DADU: Around 100 members of the Bhurt community on Monday stormed a building housing three police stations, went on the rampage and freed four persons, who were locked up there for interrogation into a murder case. Five policemen were injured in the violent attack.

The trouble started when a team of the Radhan police station investigating the murder case of a young man, Sabir Panhwar, raided a house in Sindhi Butra village near Mehar town and took away with them two men and two women for interrogation.

Someone conveyed to their relatives that they (detained people) were being subjected to intense torture and one of the two men, Zakir Bhurt, was even shot at and wounded.

Reacting furiously to the claim, dozens of Bhurt men, some of them carrying firearms and many others with clubs, rushed to the police station along with their women family members.

SHO and four cops injured, several mobile vans, DSP office damaged

They went on the rampage smashing windowpanes of police mobile vans parked outside and then ransacking fixture and furniture inside. Some of them also fired shots into the air making the police also to respond with aerial firing.

The mob reportedly beat up and injured the Radhan SHO and four constables and forced them to let off the detained men and women.

They kept accusing the police of having beaten up the detained persons and firing a shot on Zakir. The police tried hard to defend themselves but in vein.

Later, the mob left the police station along with the freed persons.

According to the police, considerable damage was caused to the vehicles and other properties in the building, housing the Radhan, A-Section and B-Section police stations, as well as the Mehar DSP’s office. They claimed that Zakir was wounded during the aerial firing resorted to by someone from within the crowd.

They said that the Radhan SHO, Syed Asghar Shah, and constable Mohammad Bux were among the five policemen injured in the mob attack. Some other cops fled the building to escape attack.

As soon as the one-hour episode ended, two separate FIRs were registered against the assailants, one at the A-Section police station and the other at the Radhan police station on behalf of the state.

The A-Section police booked 90 suspects, including Nasir, Rano and Zulfiqar for attacking the police station, assaulting law-enforcers, obstructing discharge of official duties, vandalism, terrorism; and facilitating escape of suspects from lock-up.

At Radhan police station, SHO Asghar Shah got 50 suspects booked under the relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act for firing at police personnel, attacking and injuring law-enforcers and attempting to free detained suspects. His FIR claimed that suspect Zakir Bhurt was injured in firing by the mob.

The situation in the village and its surrounding areas remained tense till late in the evening.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2025