CHAKWAL: A rivalry between two families that started 40 years ago in the Maira Village has claimed three more lives. So far, 13 people have been killed due to the enmity.

On Saturday, armed motorcyclists opened fire on Chaudhry Azmat Ali Khan, his brother Shaukat Ali Khan and cousins Ghulam Mehdi Khan and Ghulam Mehdi, who had just left the district courts after attending a hearing.

The incident happened at Bypass Chowk on the Chakwal-Talagang Road near the District Complex.

Chaudhry Azmat, 52, Chaudhry Shaukat, 60 and Ghulam Mehdi Khan, 56 died on the spot while Ghulam Mehdi received a bullet to the neck. The suspects managed to escape.

The police have registered a case based on the complaint of the injured Ghulam Mehdi who nominated Mohammad Aziz, Abuzar, Rab Nawaz, Mohammad Ayub, Zohaib Tariq and Khalil Ahmed, saying they chased their car on motorcycles and opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle. He also accused Mohammad Aslam and Mohammad Nazeer of abetting.

“We have started efforts to arrest the suspects and are conducting raids,” investigation officer Khawar Saeed told Dawn.

The rivalry between the two families started in 1979 when Mohammad Bashir is said to have gunned down Chaudhry Ghulam Ali and his friend Ghulam Abbas.

Bashir, who was serving in the Pakistan Rangers at the time, was sentenced to life but was released after a few years by the high court.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Ali’s widow was married off to his brother, Mehdi Khan, who survived the attack last Saturday.

The couple had two sons, Azhar and Hassan, who both grew up hearing about the death of their uncle.

Thirty-two years later, in 2011, the enmity was revived when Azhar allegedly shot Bashir’s younger brother, Mohammad Shafique, in order to avenge his uncle’s death, but Shafique survived.

Reconciliation was reached between the two rival families which was broken in Aug 6, 2016 when Hassan and his cousin Mukhtar allegedly shot and killed Bashir and his nephew Tariq in Kallar Kahar.

Both the accused are still under trial. Another gunfight between the two groups took place on May 22 during which two men were killed including Javed, the elder brother of Tariq and the father of Mukhtar.

To avenge the death of Javed, the Chaudhry tribe attacked five members of the rival family on July 20 last year as they were on their way to the district courts during which four men of the same family were killed and one survived.

The police booked 17 people for the incident and 16 were arrested and released on bail.

Chaudhry Azmat Ali Khan, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Khan, Ghulam Mehdi Khan and Ghulam Mehdi were among the 17 booked and they were in the district courts on Saturday in connection with the July 20, 2017 incident.

Chaudhry Shafqat Ali Khan, another brother of Chaudhry Azmat and Shaukat and a prime suspect in the July 20 incident, is still at large.

Chaudhry Azmat was also booked in other cases of murder and robberies in Sialkot district.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2018