An exchange of fire between Afghan and Pakistani Pakhtuns on Saturday left a young man dead and two others badly injured. The Shehzad Town police said the apparent reason for the clash was an old issue involving financial and land disputes.
“The two groups had a heated exchange two days ago over the same issues,” said a police officer investigating the case.
This time it went beyond words and guns were drawn near Zia Masjid, where most members of the two parties live with their families. Wazir Sultan, 20, was shot in the chest and died on the spot.
He was from the local group, which also enjoys the support of a local property tycoon and an infamous land-grabbing group.
Police said firing also injured Wali Jan and Ali Jan from the Afghan group. They were shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (Pims), where they are said to be in stable condition with non-serious injuries.
The Shehzad Town police with the help of the local area police made special security arrangements at Pims before shifting the dead and injured there to avoid a potential clash at the hospital.
Sultan’s body was handed over to his family after a postmortem.
No case had been registered till the filing of this report as police said they were waiting for the family of the dead man to come to the police station and register an FIR.
The other group might also file a case of attempted murder, but the circumstances are not clear yet, said a police official, adding that the matter was still being investigated.
However, he did not give out any details of the investigation.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2012.
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