September 26, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 25, 1429

THATTA, Sept 25: A DawnNews reporter and two villagers suffered injuries when some people believed to be supporters of former MPA Ghulam Qadir Palijo snatched the camera of the TV team at what has been described as disputed land in Makli necropolis on Thursday.

Eyewitnesses said that the Karachi-based DawnNews reporter, Abid Hassan, and his two colleagues were shooting for a documentary about alleged encroachments on Makli hill monuments when a funeral procession of herdsman Ghulam Nabi Jakhro passed by.

The reporter called a man from the procession to record his opinion about the disputed land when a group of people came rushing to him and one of them, identified as Ibrahim Palijo, slapped him hard across his face.

He started bleeding while the assailant and his associates hurled insults.

People in the funeral procession and Mr Palijo’s men pelted each other with stones. The free for all went on for quite some time.

In the meantime, a man snatched the equipment of Dawn TV cameraman Yousuf. The camera was later retrieved by some people but without the recorded footage.

The TV team approached Thatta DPO Sultan Khwaja who assured that he would get the video footage back.

Mr Palijo also came to the DPO office and after some discussion returned the tape which had been smashed. The DawnNews team refused to accept the tape.

The DPO has deployed police at the site and called for a revenue report to ascertain facts.

On the orders of director-general of archaeology Fazal Dad Kakar, deputy director of southern archaeology, Mazhar Mirani visited the site and took photographs.

Meanwhile, PPP MPA Humera Alwani, former MNA Babu Ghulam Hussain Memon, Adam Gandro and Javed Memon and other local leaders have expressed the opinion that the dispute would dent the popularity of the People’s Party. They advised Mr Palijo to avoid harming the party.