FAISALABAD: A man was killed by a stray bullet from jubilation fire at a wedding in Jaranwala on Friday night.

Ashraf Amjad, 40, of Sai ka Pull Lahore Road, Jaranwala was attending a mehndi ceremony when a stray bullet killed him during jubilation fire, Rescue 1122 claimed. The body was shifted to Jaranwala THQ Hospital.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman was killed in Pratab Nagar by a stray bullet; police registered a murder case against those nominated in the case.

Following a surge in jubilation fire incidents, police officials have asked their subordinates to take stern action against those responsible. However, practically gun-toting people seeme to have taken the law into their hands with the alleged connivance of area police.

A policeman, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that theoretically their bosses had been pressing them for action against those involved in aerial firing, but practically the situation is different. Sometimes they were forced to accord protocol to the detained people, as they had political connections, despite being caught red-handed while firing in the air.

Man killed in latest incident of aerial firing at a wedding

He said a couple of days ago, a vice chairman of a union council was found firing in the air and its footage was also available. However, police had to deal with him politely due to political pressure, he claimed. In the past, he said, they had to fine an addict in a case of aerial firing instead of the real culprits only to avoid the wrath of their bosses.

A few days, ago, the Anti-Corruption Establishment had registered a case against some employees of the deputy commissioner’s office on charges of issuing fake arms licences to dozens of people after taking bribes. Suspects in the case included Shahid Nadeem, a superintendent; Basharat Ali; Abdul Rauf; Mian Riaz; and Muhammad Rizwan.

Complainant Muhammad Munir of Madinabad had stated in the first information report that the suspects had issued about 16,000 licences and received Rs15,000 against each licence.

He said some of the licences were even dated prior to the birth of the licencee.

City Police Officer Ashfaq Ahmed Khan told Dawn that he had directed his subordinates to show zero tolerance towards jubilation fire at wedding ceremonies, kite flying and one-wheeling.

He said police had registered cases and also arrested some people involved in aerial firing.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2019