GUJRAT: PML-N MNA Chaudhry Abid Raza and three others who were acquitted by the Lahore High Court on Thursday had murdered six people, including police cops, during a life attempt on the then MPA Ghulam Sarwar Bhooch (late) who luckily survived that bid on Bhimbher Road here in 1998.

The enmity between the Kotla and Bhooch-Doiyan groups started in 1981 when Chaudhry Abdul Malik, the father of the MNA, was murdered and it claimed dozens of precious lives from both sides until 2003 when the rivals reconciled.

Ex-MPA Sarwar Bhooch who died of natural causes some 14 years ago had survived many bids on his life and was too awarded death sentence in 2002 in the murder case of four people, including that of Haji Abdul Khaliq, the elder brother of MNA Raza, in Lalamusa in the mid 90s.

As both Abid Raza and Sarwar Bhooch had been given death sentences in separate cases, they reached reconciliation in 2003.

Abid Raza remained in detention for more than a year in connection with investigation into the attack on the then president of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf some 14 years ago when his brother Naeem Raza had to tender resignation from the office of the adviser to the then Punjab chief minister to get his brother Abid Raza released from the captivity of the agencies.

Abid Raza’s name also remained in the list of fourth schedule of the ATA for a few years during the PML-Q era.

Abid and Naeem parted ways in 2007 over political differences when Abid joined the PML-N and the latter remained affiliated with the PML-Q till today.

Though the Kotla group had been an active and influential part of the Kharian politics for the last five decades and most of the parliamentarians won from the area with their strong support, Abid Raza and his brother Shabeer Kotla were the first from their family members who were elected as MNA and MPA, respectively, on the PML-N ticket in 2013 and then in December 2016 another brother Tanveer Kotla was elected as chairman of the Gujrat district council.

There was jubilation at Dera Abdul Malik, the residence/political office of the MNA soon after the verdict was announced and people from across the district started reaching there. Mr Raza was accorded a warm reception at various locations in his constituency after arriving from Lahore.

Talking to reporters, the MNA welcomed the court verdict and said his political opponents had launched propaganda of his association with terrorists despite of the fact that it was a case of family feud.

Ex-MPA Shabeer Kotla told Dawn that there had been a political hype in NA-71 for the last few days due to the expected announcement of the verdict as some of their rival political families had launched activities in the constituency for the preparation of the expected by-poll in case of conviction of MNA Abid Raza.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2018