Land disputes: Five killed, two injured in separate incidents

Argument over inheritance claims lives of three brothers, leaves fourth injured.

SWABI: Five people were killed, including three brothers, and two people were injured in separate land dispute incidents in Swabi on Sunday.

Gadoon police station SHO Qaisar Khan told The Express Tribune that a conflict over land turned violent in the remote village of Chenai when four young brothers began firing at each other.

Their father, Gulab Din, had been unable to distribute his land among his four sons before he died.  The sons started fighting over the distribution of the land. On Saturday, a jirga was held over the issue, which seemingly peacefully resolved the conflicts. However, later on, Munawar Din realised that there was no path to his land and asked his brothers to give him a route to access it. The row escalated and the brothers opened fire on each other in which three were killed and one, Hassan Din, injured.

In another incident, two persons were killed in Colonel Sher Khan Kallay of Lahor tehsil, Swabi.

Lahor Police SHO Malook Shah said that Saeed Ali Raza filed an FIR stating that he had a dispute with his tenants, Zahir Rahman, Wali Muhammad and Saleem, and held negotiations to solve the dispute. However, the tenants opened fire killing two people, Saeed Hussain Shah and Sufaid Khan.

Raza’s tenant Zahir Rahman also filed a report against him saying that his landlord had crushed their crops and damaged their tobacco kiln. Police filed a case and started investigations.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2012.