SUKKUR: Former MPA Sardar Mir Ghalib Khan Domki, his wife and a grandson were injured in an attack carried out by a heavily armed gang near Rustam town of Shikarpur district along National Highway on Sunday evening.

The victims were rushed to a nearby hospital, where their condition was stated to be stable.

The ex-lawmaker’s two bodyguards were killed and another one was wounded in the shootout prompted by the attack. Three of the attackers were stated to have been killed in the gun battle.

The Sardar along with his spouse and a grandson had left Sukkur for Bakhshapur town of Kandhkot-Kashmore district by his Vigo. While the vehicle was passing by Rustam town of Shikarpur district along the National Highway, the armed men standing on the roadside, signaled the Vigo driver to stop. As the driver, sensing danger, accelerated the speed instead, the armed men opened an indiscriminate fire on the vehicle. All the three occupants of the Vigo suffered multiple injuries from the splinters of the vehicle’s glass panes. The initial medical examination suggested that they had not received any gunshot wound.

Two bodyguards, three attackers killed in ensuing shootout

Police and onlookers said that moments after the attackers opened fire, the lawmaker’s bodyguards riding a vehicle behind the Vigo retaliated the attack killing three of the attackers. However, two of the bodyguards -- Salar and Mehar, belonging to the Domki tribe – also lost their lives. A third bodyguard, Murad Khan Domki, suffered critical bullet wounds and was fighting for life at the same hospital.

Sardar Ghalib Domki had previously been a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart for long but in the 2018 general elections, he fought for a Sindh Assembly seat on a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) ticket and lost.

Locals and Rusam police said that the attack on Sardar Domki’s Vigo was carried out on the highway’s Mirza Wah (irrigation channel) section, known as Faizo Road falling within the Rustam town.

They claimed that the attackers were members of a dacoit gang, adding that its ringleader, Mir Nadir Mirani, was among those killed in the shootout. The claim could not be verified from independent sources as, according to the locals, the other gangsters took away the bodies, as well as their wounded fellows, after the shootout. They sped away by several vehicles towards the riverine area of Shikarpur district, they said.

A strong contingent of police drawn from several police stations was deployed at the shootout site and along the attackers’ escape route.

The police were trying to enter the riverine area in a hunt for the attackers.

CM, IGP take notice of incident

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Inspector General Ghulam Nabi Memon have taken notice of the incident and sought a detailed report from Shikarpur SSP Shahzeb Chachar.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2025