Ex-bar leader killed in ambush

Lawyers boycott courts; police form teams to arrest killers

SAMUNDARI:

A former president of the Faisalabad District Bar Association, Chaudhry Naveed Mukhtar Ghuman, was killed along with his driver in an ambush on Samundri road by men on a motorcycle on Tuesday.

A large number of lawyers and police officers reached the spot after the attack.

The police shifted both the bodies to the Allied Hospital for post-mortem.

The bar association announced a strike following the murder of its former president. The regional police officer (RPO) sought a report on the incident from the city police chief who formed teams headed by the investigation SSP to nab the murderers.

According to the police, 52-year-old Advocate Naveed Mukhtar Ghuman, a resident of Malkhanwala, was going in car along with his 37-year-old driver Bin Yamin of Sahiwal on Samundri road from Jhal Khanuana when they were attacked.

The attackers on a motorcycle intercepted them Near Gol Masjid and opened fire on the on the vehicle. The vehicle rammed into the footpath after both the men in it were hit by bullets. However, the attackers kept firing.

Passers-by informed Rescue 1122 about the incident but Naveed Mukhtar succumbed to his injuries before the rescuers arrived at the spot.

The driver also died while he was being shifted to the hospital.

City Police Officer Syed Khalid Mahmood Hamdani and other senior officers reached the spot after the incident.

The police said they were carrying out raids to apprehend the attackers on the orders of RPO Sarfraz Ahmed Falki.

District Bar Association general secretary Yasir Hayat Chatha called for an immediate boycott of court proceedings to mourn the death of its former leader. He said the lawyers’ strike would continue on Wednesday.

Batala Colony Police Station SHO Siddique Cheema said that the deceased lawyer had enmity with a group in his village and it was suspected that his rivals had shot him dead.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2023.