SUKKUR, June 4: Two minors sustained fatal burns during police operations in three villages of Kandhkot-Kashmore and Jacobabad districts on Tuesday.

Police personnel drawn from a number of police stations of the district took part in the operation during which many houses were bulldozed or set on fire to force what police claimed as ‘criminals hiding in the area’. The affected villagers, however, alleged that the police operations were carried out on political grounds and at the behest of certain influential political figures of the area.

Sources in the area told Dawn that six-month-old Hasina, daughter of Bagan Nandwani, and three-month-old Rahim Bukhsh, son of Gul Sher Nandwani, received died of serious burns when police torched seven houses after bulldozing them in Hamzo Nandwani and Rasool Bukhsh Nandwani villages near Thull town.

The houses belonged to Abdul Sattar Nandwani, Ghulam Murtaza, Jaffer, Ali Hassan, Naseer Ahmed, Abdullah, Mir Hassan and Gehno Nandwani.

The affected villagers claimed that all their belongings including grain stocks, valuables, furniture and other household items were either reduced to ashes or badly damaged during the operation.

The district police said that personnel from Karampur, Tangwani, Ghouspur, Jamal Nandwani, Shabbir Abad, A- and B-Section police stations took part in the operation, which was led by Kandhkot DSP Gul Hassan Jatoi and Tangwani DSP Mohammad Sadique Odho. An armoured personnel carrier (APC) was also employed to facilitate the operation, they added.

The police said that the operation was aimed at flushing out dacoits, robbers and other criminals who, they believed, were hiding in the villages.

Local residents said that the police took away Dur Mohammad and Mazar and a 14-year-old boy, Raja Nandwani, with them.

In a separate operation, five houses were bulldozed and three others were torched in Gulzar Nandwani village near Ghouspur town on Tuesday.

Jamal Nandwani SHO Samandar Chandio led the operation which was carried out by a strong contingent of police.

Five suspects — Aziz, Mumtaz, Rahim Bukhsh, Himayatullah and Tariq — all belonging to the Nandwani clan, were taken into custody, the police said.

They said that an increase in robberies, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes had prompted the district police authorities to carry out an operation against criminals in the area.

Residents of Gulzar Nandwani village also complained of excesses by police and told the media that the operation was carried out at the behest of influential political figures of the area to punish the villagers for not favouring them in the recent elections.

They urged the government to hold an investigation into the affair and order release of innocent villagers, besides announcing compensation to the affected villagers.