SAHIWAL: A farm worker was killed and 16 others were injured in a ‘clash and exchange of fire’ between the administration of Baiel Gunj Military Stud Farm and tenants, commonly called Mazareen, in Pakpattan district on Saturday evening.

The clash reportedly erupted over the removal of a ‘dysfunctional’ power transformer which fed a tube well irrigating the farmland.

Villagers in the nearby farm claimed that heavy firing was heard for 50 minutes. Sources said that 13 tenants and four security personnel of the farm were injured in the clash.

Rescue 1122 sources confirmed that they shifted the injured to the Baiel Ganj Basic Health Unit and the Pakpattan DHQ Hospital.

Pakpattan Health Authority CEO Imtiaz Rana told the media that emergency was declared in the DHQ Hospital. The sources said Mamshad Ahmed, son of Haji Manzoor, succumbed to his wounds sustained in the clash.

As police did not reportedly register the case, some 500 residents and Mazareen from Farid Nagar Colony, adjacent to the farm, marched in protest towards the Pakpattan police chief office.

Carrying the worker’s body, the protesters demanded the registration of an FIR against the culprits.

Later, the protesters assembled outside the deputy commissioner’s office where the sit-in continued for over four hours.

Sources in police confirmed that the DPO office had to call reserve police force to avoid any possible clash around the farm. They said the road connecting Pakpattan with Deepalpur and Kasur had been closed.

The sit-in ended when ­a three-member committee comprising Deputy Com­mis­sioner Ahmed Kamal Maan, DPO Mariya Mah­mood and SP Investigation Syed Abbas Shah met the protest leaders.

Mr Maan told Dawn by phone that the protesters dispersed after an assurance that FIR would be registered under the law.

DPO office spokesperson Asif said the body was taken to the DHQ Hospital for autopsy.

Rai Khizer Hayat, the station house officer of Chak Badiyain police station, told Dawn that the FIR was being registered.

He said that a murder case was being registered on the compliant of Mohammad Akbar against 13 men belonging to the security administration of the military farm.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019