SAHIWAL: A man was killed and another was critically injured when two unidentified motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on funeral prayers in the graveyard of Chak 89/EB, Bahowala, tehsil Arifwala on Friday.

Due to imposition of the Section 144, only the family members and close friends of the deceased were offering funeral prayers of one Habibullah, belonging to the Joyia clan, who had died of heart attack. The villagers told police there was old rivalry between Chishti and Joyia clans of the village. Eyewitnesses said as the funeral prayers were being held, two unidentified men reached there on a motorcycle and opened fire on those offering the prayers. Because of the firing, Habibullah’s elder son, Abdul Haq, died on the spot while his friend, Muhammad Amir, of the same village got critically injured. Amir was shifted to the THQ Hospital Arifwala.

Qabola police said the firing was the result of an old rivalry between the two families. No FIR was registered when this report was filed.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2020