Teenage rage: Man shot dead for not changing channel

ISLAMABAD:

It began with changing the TV channel and ended with murder. Muhammad Umair and Amir Muawiya, both in their late teens, according to the police, were watching television at Umair’s family house in Bhambar Tarar village on the outskirts of Islamabad on Tuesday.

The village is located some 12 kilometres east of the Islamabad Highway near the road’s southern end. A petty squabble over which TV channel to watch quickly escalated into a heated argument, according to the account of Umair’s father, Muhammad Hanif, reported the police. Amid the argument, Muawiya, who was allegedly armed with an AK-47 at the time, shot Umair dead.

The Koral police registered a murder case against Muawiya on Hanif’s complaint on Tuesday.

The IO could not confirm if the weapon was licensed or why Muawiya was armed in the first place.

“They got into a heated argument which led to the fatal shooting,” the officer said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.