RAWALPINDI: Relatives and neighbours of three people shot dead by their rivals on Thursday night took to the streets on Friday, causing gridlocks on many roads in city and cantonment areas.

The clash between Lambardar and Yasir groups in Dhoke Kala Khan located in the Sadiqabad police limits left four people dead and seven others injured. Three of the deceased belonged to the Lambardar group and one was from Yasir group.

The protesters while carrying the three bodies marched on Murree Road and blocked traffic at Faizabad interchange demanding the police arrest those involved in the incident.

According to the family of the three deceased, they were targeted by their rivals with gunfire that continued for more than an hour.

The protesters asked junior police officers assigned the task to convince them to disperse to call Regional Police Officer Mohammad Tufail and City Police Officer Mohammad Faisal Rana to meet and listen to their demand.

Clash between two groups leaves four – three belonging to one group – dead and seven injured in Dhoke Kala Khan

The protest that continued for more than two hours caused traffic jams in the cantonment and city areas with commuters, including pedestrians, remaining stuck on roads.

Long queues of vehicles could be seen on either side of Murree Road, Peshawar Road and Islamabad Expressway with even ambulances stuck in the gridlocks.

The police said the process to place the names of 23 people involved in the incident had been initiated to prevent them from leaving the country. However, two of the nominated people have been arrested and raids were underway to arrest the others.

On the other hand, the station house officer of Sadiqabad was served with a show-cause notice while an explanation was sought from the deputy superintendent of police New Town for failing to check the firing incident.

The deceased were identified as Abdullah, 18, Zeeshan Hameed, 29, and Hamza Mehmood of Lambardar group and Hassan Ishtiaq, 29, of Yasir group.

Zahid Mehmood, father of Hamza, lodged an FIR with the Sadiqabad police stating that he came out of his home on hearing sounds of gunshots at 10:30pm and saw Chaudhry Yasir, Chaudhry Rashid’s sons and others firing in the street.

He said on seeing him, his rivals shouted at him that they would teach him a lesson for fleeing from the court during proceeding of a criminal case.

He said Mr Yasir opened fire on Hamza which hit him in the chest. The second gunshot was fired by Chaudhry Nasir which hit Zeeshan alias Shanoo. He said Amir fired at Abdullah that left him injured.

He said after hearing the sounds of gunshots, a large number of his relatives, including Ghulam Nabi, Ghulam Mustafa, Jehangir and others reached the spot. He said Chaudhry Faisal opened fire on Nabi while Shahzad shot Jehangir.

He said Chaudhry Yasir also opened fire at his servant Hassan Ishtiaq and injured him. Later, the accused escaped from the scene.

Mr Mehmood alleged that some time back he was attacked by Amir and others from his rival group which led to registration of a criminal case against them. Subsequently, Amir was arrested and sent to jail.

Later, another FIR was registered against him (Mehmood) but he was not arrested. He said his rivals attacked him as revenge to the arrest of Amir.

One of the relatives of the three deceased alleged that police were present in the area when Chaudhry Yasir along with others opened fire on their rivals but they did not take notice of the incident.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019