SUKKUR: Six people, three of them brothers, were gunned down by a group of about a dozen assailants riding motorcycles who stormed the guestroom of a family belonging to the Sawand clan in a village of Mirpur Mathelo taluka of Ghotki district on Saturday.

The attack was said to be the latest in the series of intermittent violent incidents in the longstanding hostility between Sawand and Sundrani clans.

The enmity has already claimed the lives of 20 people, including that of an Artificial Intelligence expert and IBA (Institute of Business Adminis-tration) Professor Dr Ajmal Sawand, who had devoted his entire professional life to education. The professor was shot dead, allegedly by Sundrani assailants on April 7 last year, to avenge the murder of Mir Noor Ilahi Khan Sundrani, a cousin of the then Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sardar Mir Ghulam Abid Khan Sundrani in the Ghouspur area of Kandhkot-Kashmore district in July last year. Two brothers of Prof Sawand, a PhD from France, are among the family members and other relatives booked in the murder FIR lodged by Mir Noor Ilahi’s family.

According to police and local journalists, armed Sundranis riding six motorcycles stormed Sawands’ guestroom where the deceased brothers — Amir Ali, Abdul Rehman and Faiz Mohammad — were busy entertaining their guests belonging to the Malik community who had come to Mirpur Mathelo from Kandhkot to attend the Mela (festival) of Saint Anwar Shah at his shrine.

Three brothers, guests among dead; hostility has already claimed lives of distinguished educationalist Prof Ajmal Sawand, 20 others

Three of the guests, later identified as Sher Ali Malik, his son Naseebullah and a relative Ali Raza, were also killed in the attack, that left four other persons wounded.

While the identity of one of the four wounded victims was yet to be ascertained, the others were identified as Sher Mohammad Sawand, Arbab Sawand and Habibullah Malik.

The police rushed to the scene and shifted the bodies and wounded people to Ghotki’s District Headquarters Hospital with the help of local residents.

A police party went after the assailants but could not catch them as the motorcycles sped their way deep into the gang-infested riverine area of Mirpur Mathelo. However, the entire area was cordoned off and efforts were under way to track them down, the police said.

Three devotees kidnapped

In a separate incident, three devotees returning home after attending the Mela at the Anwar Shah shrine were kidnapped purportedly by a gang of dacoits on Friday. Asif, Qadeer and Owais were travelling by motorcycles when armed outlaws waylaid them near the Sarhad area, between Ghotki (city) and Mirpur Mathelo, police said, adding that the victims’ bikes and some belongings were found abandoned at the crime scene.

A hunt for the outlaws was started and police teams were sent into the nearby riverine area to rescue the hostages, they said.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024