DERA GHAZI KHAN: A dispute between the two groups of a family over one acre has claimed two lives in village Shahani in the jurisdiction of the Kot Chhutta police. Frequent clashes between the groups have destroyed the peace of the area for the last one decade, putting the lives of the residents of the village at risk.

The dispute began one decade ago over one acre when Mureed Husain Shahani chopped off the left arm of his nephew (son of his sister) Sameeullah Shahani who had been selected for the police job. Imran Shahani, from the family of Sameeullah Shahani, later attacked Mureed to settle the score where one member of Mureed’s family was killed while Mureed survived the attack.

Now, Mureed struck back with his accomplices and broke the hands of Karim Bakhsh, one from the rival family, and also opened indiscriminate fire on the houses of Imran’ s family. Seven people, including women, got seriously injured and are under treatment.

After sometime, Imran succeeded in killing Mureed in the jurisdiction of the Gaddai police station. The police arrested Imran and Adnan in the murder case of Mureed.

This has not ended the dirty play here. Regular crossfire between rival groups has destroyed the peace of the area and restricted the free movement of other villagers.

After the murder of Mureed, his heirs set standing crop of wheat of the Imran’s family on fire and forced them to leave the village beside demolishing their houses.

One villager on the condition of anonymity said that their village had become a ‘no-go’ area and the place of horror because of regular crossfire. He said there was need of involvement of notables to settle down the dispute to restore the peace of the area and peace of minds of people of the rival groups.

The very first victim of the dispute, Sameeullah, whose left arm was cut off by Mureed, told Dawn the police had allegedly given free hand to the Mureed party to destroy their wheat crop and demolish houses. He said they had asked for the intervention of Regional Police Officer Umer Sheikh but in vain as the Mureed group was roaming freely in the area.

The Kot Chhuta station house officer told Dawn they often received calls from villagers regarding firing but they never found any such thing whenever they raided the village.

District Police Officer Atif Nazir told Dawn that 14 first information report had been registered from both sides but at this stage of dispute there was need of involvement of all stakeholders of the area to resolve the decade long dispute.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2019