Youth gunned down over land dispute

Family says victims were attacked on behest of police

BAHAWALNAGAR:

A 20-year-old man was killed and his father was seriously injured over a land dispute within the limits of Saddar Bahawalnagar police station on Friday.

The deceased's uncle accused ASI of Saddar police station of involvement. The police, while protecting one of their own, registered a case.

Ashfaq, 20 and his father Yaqoob were fired upon during a dispute over land possession in the Sakhram Pura area.

Ashfaq died on the spot, while his father Yaqoob was injured. The rescue team shifted the casualties to hospital.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Yaqoob’s brother Mohammad Aslam alleged that the accused have the patronage of the police. He added that the police were informed before the incident, but SHO police station Saddar reached the spot and did not take any action.

The deceased's uncle alleged that ASI Waqas Shah of Police Station Saddar was involved in the attack on his brother and nephew.

Mohammad Aslam said his brother was referred to Bahawalpur in critical condition. Yaqoob backed this up in his video statement, stating that the shooting was carried out in the presence of the police. He said after the firing stopped, police left the scene.

The police registered an FIR on the application of deceased's uncle, but did not mention ASI Waqas Shah in the FIR.

A police spokesman said the police have registered a case and started raids to arrest the accused. Regarding the involvement of ASI Waqas Shah in the incident, the police spokesperson said that he has been suspended from duty.

This is not the first instance of a land dispute turning fatal in Punjab. In September of last year in Lodhran, a man allegedly killed his father over a dispute over some land.

Police registered a murder case against Muhammad Sohail on the complaint of his brother, Muhammad Tufail.

Tufail, a resident of Sal Saddar, stated in his complaint that his brother, Sohail, had sold the land he had inherited, squandered all of the proceeds. Tufail alleged that his brother started pressuring his father to give him more land, but he refused.

According to the FIR, Tufail stated that he and his brother were sleeping in their home with their father Karim Bukhsh on the night of September 3rd when the murder took place. Muhammad Tufail said that when he returned from the bathroom, he found his father’s bed empty and heard his screams from one of the rooms of their house.

“When I entered the room I saw that Sohail had killed our father Karim Bukhsh by striking his head with a wheat-crushing instrument and escaped,” he said.

Police registered case 699/22 under Section 302 of the PPC against accused Sohail. Saddar police shifted the body of Karim Bukhsh to the district hospital for postmortem. While taking immediate notice of the incident, DPO Muhammad Kashif had formed a team headed by the DSP of Saddar and ordered it to arrest the accused immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2023.