In cold blood: Two brothers among four killed in revenge

None of the killers have been arrested so far.

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD:

Four persons including two brothers were killed and another person was critically injured by armed assailants who stormed a residence in Madina Town in the garrison city, while a woman was murdered in the capital on Friday.

The Naseerabad police, in whose jurisdiction the quadruple murder took place, said the clash was in continuation of an enmity. The who murdered were identified as Sher Ali, 20, Hazrat Ali, 25, Zarghoon, 25 and Sedar Azam, 20, while Moeen, 40, was injured.

Police officials said three motorcyclists carrying sophisticated weapons stormed Zar Khan’s house and opened fire, which resulted in the death of four persons. The assailants escaped from the scene after the incident.



The family and neighbours of the victims raised slogans against the police and refused to remove the bodies from the scene, blaming for deliberately arriving late. They said they had informed the police well in time and the Naseerabad Police Station was just a few minutes away, so there was no justification for the delay.

Provoked family members threatened to take revenge for the murders and told the police its help was no longer required. After hearing about the incident, a heavy contingent of police led by Potohar SP Haroon Joya and Cannt Circle ASP Capt. Bilal arrived at the scene. The ASP calmed down the protesters. He convinced them to send the bodies for postmortem and assured them he would follow up on the murders.

Rescue 1122 and police shifted the dead and injured to District Headquarter Hospital for postmortem while the injured man is stated to be in critical condition.



They said that both groups belonged to Jalalabad, Afghanistan but Zar Khan’s group migrated to Rawalpindi after killing three men of the other group in Afghanistan. “The armed persons also resorted to firing warning shots after the murders to create panic so that no one could dare to chase them,” said Akram, an eyewitness present at the hospital. They warned that they would kill anyone who chased them, he added.

As the firing continued for several minutes it spread a wave of fear in the locality, traders shut down their shops and went home. The police also surrounded the area but no arrest could be made, nor did any complainant appear before police to file a murder case till late in the evening.

Man kills stepmother

In a separate incident in the federal capital, a young man shot his stepmother with a single bullet to the head over what is believed to be a personal grievance by the police.

Sawera Bibi, 27, the second wife of Javed Masih, was found dead in Koral with a bullet wound in the head, according to the police. Koral police registered a murder case after the death was reported.

Initial investigation reveals that Masih’s son, Aqib, committed the murder. The investigating officer was unavailable for comment but a police spokesperson said a family dispute could have been the motive behind the killing.

Aqib was on the run Till the filing of this news story and police were trying to trace him.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2014.