Land grabbing: Men attack IBA Sukkur registrar

Case's FIR was registered against MPA Sheheryar Mahar one year ago.

SUKKUR: The registrar of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Sukkur was seriously attacked by armed men in what the institute is saying is retaliation for deposing against an MPA in court in a land grabbing case.

Registrar Zahid Khand was on his way to work when he was intercepted near the campus on Airport Road on Wednesday morning by unidentified armed men who opened fire on him and took off. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Sukkur, where doctors were unable to treat him, so he was shifted to Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi in critical condition.

Abad police station head constable Abdul Jabbar Mangi told The Express Tribune that they have registered a case on Khand’s complaint against three men, MPA Sheheryar Mahar’s employee Ishaq Mahar and two unidentified men, but no arrests have been made yet.

Khand told the police that his attackers said to him before firing that this was a lesson for dragging their sardar to court.

IBA Director Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui told The Express Tribune that about one year back Sardar Ghous Bux Mahar’s younger son MPA Sheheryar Mahar had purchased land in Deh Arain near IBA from Al Shifa Trust where he started constructing a housing scheme. A piece of land measuring 5.5 acres belonging to IBA and meant for a girls hostel was lying adjacent to his land.

According to Siddiqui, eight or nine months back IBA registrar Khand lodged an FIR against MPA Sheheryar Mahar and one Bahadur Khoso for occupying IBA’s land after beating its guards and other employees. The case went to court and on Monday, December 6, Registrar Khand appeared before the bench and recorded his statement against Sheheryar Mahar.

The Express Tribune was unable to immediately contact Sheheryar whose cell phone was turned off but it did reach his brother Arif Mahar, who is a former zila nazim for Shikarpur. “Sheheryar has been in the UK since around Eid,” he said. When informed about the case and asked for his response, he said: “We are not like that. We don’t do this kind of thing. Sheheryar has gone into business and businessmen don’t do this kind of thing.”

IBA Deputy Registrar Azhar Ali Soomro later told The Express Tribune that Khand was shot in the right and left legs.

His right leg was fractured as a result as was his right middle finger. He was, however, stated to be in stable condition.

“This war is between an educationist and land grabbers,” said Siddiqui. “I am not fighting this war for my own sake, but for providing better education facilities to the people of upper Sindh and especially girls.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2010.