Possible land dispute: Shot injured, former nazim dies searching for treatment

Sher Afzal dies of injuries while being taken to third hospital; shooter flees.

ATTOCK: The former nazim of union council Dakhnair, Sher Afzal, died of a gunshot wound on Sunday for not being provided treatment for around six hours. He was shot at from close range as he came out of a mosque after offering Asar prayers and died on his way to Rawalpindi for treatment.

The unidentified killer, who shot the former nazim at point black using a 30-bore pistol, managed to flee.

According to a police official, Afzal was shot injured around 5:30pm as he came out of a mosque along with his son Muhammad Afzal. He was taken to District Headquarter Hospital Attock from where the doctors referred him to Combined Medical Hospital (CMH) Attock for treatment. The doctors at CMH Attock again referred him to CMH Rawalpindi, on grounds that they were inadequately equipped to treat him.

Afzal died of his injuries on his way to Rawalpindi at around 11:30pm, the police official said.

Following the shooting, the police had registered a case of attempted murder, which was amended to a murder case after Afzal’s death, the official added.

When contacted, Muhammad said he was certain that his father was killed over a land dispute. He said that only 15 days ago the Tehsil Municipal Authority’s former chairperson Sheikh Shahid Mehmood had reconciled an agreement between his father and the rival group over a land dispute. He assumed that the group had decided to break the truce and attack his father.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2012.