Youth killed in firing over land dispute
Abdullah and his cousin were trying to take a selfie with a loaded pistol in Muzaffargarh. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
A young man was shot dead over a land dispute involving a former local bar association secretary and his brother in Tandlianwala, police said on Thursday.
The police registered a murder case against 19 suspects, including four nominated and 15 unidentified men, and launched a search for them. The District Bar Association announced a strike and boycotted court proceedings after the murder case was registered against former secretary Rana Murtaza Hakeem.
According to the FIR registered at Tandlianwala city police station on the complaint of Zafar Iqbal, a resident of Chak 410-GB, Murtaza Hakeem had purchased 200 kanal of land from Rai Faisal, Iftikhar, Imtiaz and others around two years ago to launch a housing society.
He had subsequently sold a portion of the land to Rai Shehzad, who planned to build a marriage hall there.
However, Rai Faisal and others allegedly stopped him, claiming that their payment had not been cleared and they would not allow the construction until the matter was settled.
They allegedly deployed their 24-year-old employee, Muhammad Boota, at the site. Shehzad then contacted Hakeem and asked him to resolve the dispute.
The FIR stated that Hakeem arrived at the site the following day with his brother, Azhar Waseem, Ashfaq, Imran and other armed men in several vehicles.
An argument reportedly broke out, followed by an exchange of gunfire, during which Boota was injured. He died while being taken to a hospital.
Police officers reached the scene after receiving information about the incident. The suspects allegedly fled while firing into the air.
The police handed over the body to the family of the decessed after post-mortem examination and registered the case under sections 302, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code. An investigation was under way.
SHO Ahmed Muneel Shah said Hakeem had purchased the land and sold a portion of it to Shehzad, who was Rai Faisal's brother-in-law.
When Shehzad began laying the foundations for a marriage hall, Faisal and others allegedly objected.
Shehzad then called Hakeem and his associates, leading to a confrontation in which Boota was killed in the exchange of fire, the SHO said.
Meanwhile, District Bar Association President Mian Muhammad Tariq and Secretary Chaudhry Kaleemullah Gul condemned the registration of the case against Hakeem, describing the FIR as baseless.
The association observed a strike on Thursday and lawyers stayed away from court proceedings.
Gul demanded that the authorities quash the false FIR and stop l humiliation of lawyers.
Statistics show that 210 people, including 58 women, have been murdered in Faisalabad district during the current year so far.
Seven people, including two women, were killed in the district during the past week.
During the past week, a man and his son were killed in Chak Jhumra police, a woman and her daughter in the Factory Area, a woman in Mamun Kanjan and a young man in Tandlianwala.
The police said suspects had been arrested in most of the murder cases.