Woman, cousin gunned down

Police attribute murders to feud between two families

OKARA:

A woman and her male cousin, who had been on their way home after appearing in a court hearing, were gunned down within the limits of Saddar Police Station.

The slain woman had been released from prison some time ago. The suspects fled after targeting the victims.

Police cordoned off the area and mounted a search for the suspects.

DPO Mansoor Aman took notice of the incident and ordered his subordinates to arrest the suspects immediately.

The bodies of the victims were shifted to the DHQ Hospital.

The SHO of Saddar Police Station, Chaudhry Sarwar, said that Raja Aurangzeb, a resident of Mauza Jethana, had been returning to his village along with his cousin, Samina, from the district court after appearing in the hearing of a case pertaining to a long-standing enmity with their rivals.

When Raja Aurangzeb’s motorcycle neared the 20-Wala Pul, Aurangzeb and Samina were ambushed by gunmen, killing them on the spot.

Upon receiving information about the incident, a team from the Saddar Circle Police reached the spot immediately and shifted the bodies to hospital for the postmortem examination.

As soon as the bodies were brought to the hospital, hundreds of relatives of the deceased reached the hospital where women mourned the death of their loved ones by beating their chests in front of the mortuary.

SHO Sarwar said Samina had been recently released from jail. She had been charged in a murder case.

The police officer said that Samina’s family had been embroiled in a longstanding enmity with their rivals. This rivalry had already claimed several lives before the current incident.

The police were investigating the case in light of the evidence they had at their disposal. They expressed their optimism that their investigation would soon lead them to the suspects.

In the first week of October, a young man had allegedly gunned down his uncle’s suspected killer on the premises of a court in Sargodha.

The suspect, Amanat Ali, a resident of 82 Shumali, had been produced in a local court. Meanwhile, Raheel, dressed in a lawyer's outfit, allegedly opened fire on Amanat in the court, killing him on the spot.

After the shooting, the police arrested Raheel.

During an interrogation, Raheel had allegedly claimed that Amanat Ali had killed his uncle some time ago, after which he had fled to Saudi Arabia.

He had told the police that he “avenged his uncle's murder”.

After the incident, the DPO had reached the courthouse with a contingent of police.

The shooting on the court premises spread panic throughout the area, and all the cases being heard were postponed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2023.