SAHIWAL: Four people were killed when a truck hit a stationary mini-truck stuck up in a traffic jam caused by a protest demo against police near 167-EB village on Multan-Kasur road between Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

According to local sources, there was a traffic jam on the road because of a demonstration staged in protest against Gago Mandi police by some 300 locals in the wake of killing of a youth during a raid around 1am.

The protesters blocked the Multan-Kasur road by placing the body of the youth there.

Rescue 1122 sources said a Kasur-bound mini-truck that was last in a queue of vehicles stuck up in a traffic jam was hit by a heavy truck from behind.

An eyewitness said the accident occurred because of poor visibility caused by fog that blinded the truck driver who rammed the vehicle into the mini-truck. As a result, Ramzan, Aslem, Shahzad and an unidentified man, who were in the mini-truck, died on the spot.

The impact was so severe that bodies had to be recovered after cutting the iron frame of the vehicle, the rescuers said. Later, the bodies were moved to Arifwala Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.

All those who died belonged to Kasur district, they said.

Gago Mandi SHO Akram Chattha, along with 14 others, was booked in the murder case of Allah Ditta, a resident of village 167/EB, Arifwala tehsil.

The locals blocked Kasur-Arifwala road for six hours in protest against the SHO blaming him for the murder during a raid in the village.

Arifwala Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rana Fawad, told Dawn that Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act had been added to the murder FIR against the SHO and others.

According to sources, Arifwala police had booked three constables who were nabbed from the murder scene by the locals, while 11 suspects, including SHO Akram Chattha, had manged to escape from the scene.

Arifwala Saddar police station SHO Waqas claimed police were raiding different places to arrest Chattha.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2017