G-9 firing suspects still out and about

ISLAMABAD:

The police failed to make any arrests during raids conducted on the houses of traders who were involved in a Saturday firing incident in G-9 markaz.

One man was killed and at least seven others injured when a group of traders allegedly opened fire on a rival group after a heated verbal exchange over campaign activities for the local traders union’s elections.

The investigating officer at Margalla Police Station said the houses of traders who opened fire during the incident were raided on Saturday night and Sunday morning. “They seemed to have locked up their houses and fled before we got there,” said the policeman.

Traders led by Ikhlaq Abbasi of the Tajir Welfare group and Malik Rafiq of the Tajir Ittehad group were contesting the February 27 election for the post of G-9 traders’ union’s president. The incident started as a fistfight between their respective supporters over the placement of some election campaign banners.

According to the Margalla police, the initial fight was resolved through the intervention of the election committee’s chairman. But the tension did not diffuse completely.

Some eyewitnesses claimed a member of Abbasi’s group was brutally beaten by Malik’s group in the fistfight, which led to the firing. But the police said they could not confirm this development.

The conflict eventually escalated to a point where armed men from Abbasi’s group allegedly opened fire on Malik’s supporters, killing Malik’s 34-year-old son Usman Rafiq and injuring at least seven other men.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2014.