Armed groups clash over private spur in Kot Sabzal

The members of the chief minister monitoring team present at the site had to rush to save their lives.


Express August 18, 2010

Two groups clashed on Tuesday and exchanged gunshots in Kot Sabzal over the construction of a safety barrier to divert the flow of flood water.

The members of the chief minister monitoring team – MPAs Chaudary Muhammad Shafiq and Asif Mohal and DCO Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi – present at the site had to rush to save their lives.

The monitoring team had gone over to Muhammad Ashraf Bajwa’s house on the complaint of the Kot Sabzal residents that the barrier erected on the road outside Bajwa’s house was diverting the flood water towards their settlements. Bajwa told the monitoring team that he had erected the barrier to prevent his house from inundation. It was not diverting the water towards the affected areas, he claimed.  While the meeting was going on, the residents Chak no205, 206, 216, 217, 218 and Moza Ganji, who were accompanying the team, started demolishing the structure. Bajwa’s men tried to stop them. Both groups exchanged gunshots causing severe injuries to five men including Ranjha Machi, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Javed.

Abdul Sattar, a former councillor and a resident of the area affected by Raini Canal breaches, told The Express Tribune that the DCO, who had earlier directed his staff to demolish the embankment, could not do anything to stop Ashraf Bajwa, Akram Bajwa and their armed men.

He said that Sub Inspector Rana Manzoor with his squad was present at the spot when the firing incident took place. “Instead of preventing the clashes, the police team ran away,” he said.

The team had visited the area on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s directives. During his visit to Kot Sabzal Tuesday morning to meet the people affected by the breaches in the Raini Canal, Shahbaz received various complaints about absence of government officials and non-provision of relief goods in the area.

He directed the team to immediately visit the area and address all issues of the residents.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, during his visit of the tent villages set up for the flood-hit people, said that once the water recedes a survey will be conducted to assess the magnitude of the losses.

Flood victims protest against food quality:

Flood victims in Layyah on Tuesday blocked the road connecting Layyah and Kot Addu in protest against the unhygienic food being provided to them in the relief camps. They raised slogans against the camp administration.

“We have avoided the floods but it seems that now we’ll succumb to the unhygienic food being supplied in the relief camps,” one of the protestors told The Express Tribune. He complained that the food given to them in Islamia High School Layyah was of very poor quality. He said that the victims would continue their protest until the authorities concerned take notice of the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2010.

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