Clash of clans?: Four brothers gunned down

Family was going to court for a bail hearing when they came under attack.

HYDERABAD: Four brothers were shot dead in Hussainabad on Friday over an old enmity between the Solangis and Abbasis.

Haji Usman Solangi was on his way to court along with his six sons for a bail hearing when they came under attack near the railway underpass. The attack left 32-year-old Wali Muhammad Solangi, a bank employee, Murataza Solangi, 30, Asif Solangi, 22, and 17-year-old Bilawal Solangi dead. Their brother, 28-year old Zulfikar Solangi, was seriously injured while Haji Usman and his other son, Muhammad Ali Solangi, escaped unhurt as they were on a separate motorcycle.

“The broken and sewage-filled road slowed them down. The assailants took advantage of this and sprayed them with bullets,” said SHO Raees Khanzada, who was later suspended by the SP Headquarters.



The family blamed their neighbours, the Abbasis, for the attack. “We repeatedly informed the police about death threats Abbasis had made and sought protection but they didn’t respond,” Muhammad Ali told The Express Tribune.

Members of the Solangi community strongly reacted to the killings, staged a sit-in with bodies and blocked the Autobahn Road and Hussainabad underpass. They pelted the passing vehicles with stones and fired rounds into the air. “We will sit here with the bodies until the suspects are arrested,” said the grief-stricken father.

SP Headquarters Wasee Hyder, meanwhile, negotiated with the protesters but they initially refused to budge. He succeeded, however, in ending the protest after assuring the protesters that the killers will be arrested within three days.  He told The Express Tribune that the police have arrested one suspect but refused to divulge his identity.  The deceased were laid to rest in Nango Shah graveyard in Hussainabad.

The dispute between the two families started in January this year when Ali Abbas Abbasi died in a clash with the Solangis. There are two versions of the story. According to the Solangis, the dispute started over a trivial fight between the children of the two families. “They attacked our house and set it on fire. Ali Abbas died of their own firing because we would have saved our home if we had weapons,” said Muhammad Ali.

The Abbasis, on the other hand, maintain that they were attacked in retaliation after one of them appeared as a witness against the Solangis in a street crime case. After the incident the police arrested Haji Usman and his sons on a complaint by Murad Abbasi, Ali Abbass’ father. The court, however, released all of them on bail except Allah Dino Solangi, one of Haji Usman’s sons.

Acting SHO Muhammad Qasim said that Murad Abbasi, who is a revenue department employee, sold his house in Hussainabad two months ago and his current whereabouts are unknown. No FIR has been yet registered as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2013.