SAHIWAL: Three people were injured in a clash between the city mayor’s guards and members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) youth wing while the former allegedly also resorted to firing in the emergency ward of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Teaching on Tuesday.

The guards of City Mayor Asad Khan Baloch, belonging to the PML-N, and the PTI youths, led by Haroon Mughal, had a violent brawl during electioneering at Pakpattan Chowk.

The mayor’s guards, Azeem Baloch and Zahoor Baloch, were involved in the fight that left a PTI youth injured. Haroon and Mohsin Chohan of the PTI reached the hospital for treatment of the youth.

Eyewitnesses said the mayor’s security guards allegedly followed the PTI men in the hospital on motorcycles.

They said the mayor’s gunmen attacked the youths who had come with Haroon and Mohsin over the issuance of a medico-legal certificate and opened fire. The firing left two of the young men, identified as Farooq Gujjar and Babar, injured.

The hospital security guards captured one of the attackers, identified as Sohail, and handed him over to the police.

The doctors and paramedics in the emergency ward got frightened over the violent clash and stopped work for two hours.

Farid Town Police Assistant Sub-Inspector Amir Farooq confirmed that one of the attackers had been arrested.

When this report was filed, Haroon Mughal told Dawn he and his fellows were at the Farid Town Police Station and wanted registration of an attempted murder case against the attackers.

Farid Town Sub-Inspector Ashraf said both the groups had a history of clash and a case was already registered against Azeem Baloch with Ghala Mandi police.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018