Brazen ‘dera’ attack shocks Chung

Three brothers among five killed over property dispute

LAHORE:

Three brothers, their cousin and domestic help were shot dead and a six-year-old child injured in an attack on their outhouse in Chung reportedly over an enmity.

Initial investigations suggested that the attack was a result of a property dispute.

The victims were sitting as per routine in the evening at their dera and watching a cricket match when unidentified men approached the spot in a car and opened indiscriminate fire at them. They suffered bullet injuries in chests and faces.

Right after firing volley of bullets, the attackers sped away from the crime scene.

Six persons including the three brothers and the child suffered bullet injuries in the attack.

After hearing the gunshots and screams, people of the neighbourhood rushed to the place and found the victims in pools of blood.

Local residents also alerted the rescue service and police.

Also read: Couple killed by ‘kin’ over property dispute

Before the rescuers could reach the spot, five of the injured people had died. The six-year-old child was shifted to a hospital, while the bodies were taken to a morgue for autopsy.

The deceased Ghulam Mustafa, Hafiz Muhammad Murtaza and Malik Shahzad Awan were brothers, while Malik Khadim was their cousin. The injured child is the son of one of the murdered men.

Fahad, 18, the fifth person killed in the attack, was their domestic employee.

The victims reportedly dealt in diary business and had farms, agricultural land and real estate property. Lahore Investigations SSP Anoush Masood visited the crime scene along with Saddar SP Zunair Cheema to supervise the collection of forensic evidence and the investigations process.

“The tragedy is the result of a property dispute between two parties. Police are very close to arresting the attackers,” she said on the occasion. She said the police had collected the evidence and the killers would be apprehended.

A senior police officer told reporters that the suspected attackers were close relatives who had an old enmity with the victims that had started as a result of a property dispute. Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi asked IGP Usman Anwar to submit a report about the incident. He directed the police to arrest the attackers at the earliest.

The provincial capital has witnessed a number of incidents of multiple murders over property disputes and enmities in the past. ‘

Read: Three killed over property dispute

In August 2018, a property dispute spanning over 11 years had resulted in the murder of five members of a family -- three brothers and two teenagers -- by their opponents at Phularwan village of the Burki area.

Reportedly, the Lathia and Kothay Wala groups had a land dispute since 2007. Two people from each rival group had earlier been murdered I earlier incidents.

The victims belonging to Kothay Wala group had left their homes at Phularwan village at 5am on a tractor-trolley to bring fodder for their animals when their opponents from the Lathia group attacked and murdered them.

In November 2019, five members of a family had been killed by their opponents over a property dispute in Batapur.

The Amjad and Rafaqat groups had a property dispute in Diyal Pind. Members of the groups had to appear before police for investigations into an FIR registered regarding a minor clash reported previously. The victims were targeted by their opponents midway to police station.

In February last year, a couple and their minor daughter were murdered in a house in Chung. Advocate Amanat Ali (33), his wife Shabana (30) and two-month-old daughter Ezal died in the incident.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2023..