Law and order: Two policemen shot dead at picket

FAISALABAD: Two policemen were shot dead near Lower Gogera Branch Canal in Faisalabad on Sunday.

Jaranwala City police said Naib Muharrars Zaheer Butt and Rai Yaseen were deployed at a picket near the canal when three armed men opened fire at them.

Police said the injured officials were taken to Jaranwala tehsil headquarters hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.

According to a witness, the assailants tried initially to throw the injured policemen into the canal but then fled leaving them at the crime scene.

City Police Officer Dr Haider Ashraf told The Express Tribune that Constables Zaheer and Yaseen had stopped three men riding a motorcycle.

“Instead of stopping the motorcyclists sped away... when the policemen chased them down and asked them to surrender near Shehroana brdige, the men opened fire,” he said.

The CPO said a police team headed by the Jaranwala SP had been formed to arrest the men.

Prayer leader shot at home

A prayer leader was shot by unidentified men in Jaranwala on Sunday.

Police said Muhammad Azam, the Imam at Jamia Masjid Ghausia in Chak 61-GB, Maharanwala, was at his home on Sunday when three men broke in and opened fire at him.

Police said Azam was taken to tehsil headquarters hospital where his condition was later reported to be out of danger.

The Jaranwala Saddar SHO said a case had been registered on Azam’s complaint. He said police team had been constituted to arrest the assailants.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2013.