GUJRAT: Police have booked at least 50 people for staging a protest demonstration in front of the official residence of Gujrat deputy commissioner against the prolonged power outages late on Tuesday night.

According to the first information report (FIR) lodged with Civil Lines police station on Wednesday, at least 50 protesters led by one Iftikhar Safdar Shah, his son Ali Shah, Adnan Sheikh and Khalil etc of Kahlidabad locality, staged a protest rally against the prolonged electricity outages in their area.

The FIR alleges that the protesters, carrying clubs, damaged the electric poles and wires in the area, posing a serious threat to the lives of the residents.

After marching on different the city roads, the protesters gathered in front of the DC’s official residence on the Jail Road, blocking it for traffic and chanted slogans and hurled threats at the district administration.

The case has been registered under sections 341, 506iii, 440, 290, 291, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 16 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960, on the report of ASI Yasir Iqbal.

Police say investigation is underway and raids are being conducted to arrest the protesters involved in damaging electricity infrastructure and committing other offences.

YOUTH MURDERED: A youth was gunned down by some armed men outside a mobile phone shop at Machiana village in Kunjah police precincts on Wednesday.

Following the incident, the police have booked 10 persons, including a former chairman of Machiana Union Council, Zaheer, his brother and several others in the murder case.

Police sources say, one Shahzad Gujjar, along with his uncle, went to a mobile phone shop. As soon as they came out of the shop after purchasing a phone, at least seven armed men, including Rehan Amjad Butt and his brother Husnain, residents of Nagrianwala village arrived there on three motorbikes.

The armed men allegedly opened fire at Shahzad, leaving him critically injured and fled the scene.

The injured man was taken to the Shabeer Sharif THQ Hospital, Kunjah, where doctors referred him to Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH). The injured man later succumbed to his bullet injuries during treatment at the hospital.

Police and Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) teams reached the spot and collected evidence from the crime scene. The victim’s body was handed over to his family after the postmortem examination.

Kunjah police have registered a case against 10 people, eight of them nominated, under sections 302, 148, 149 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the report of Abbas, an uncle of the victim.

The complainant says the victim was in litigation with the main suspects (Husnain and Rehan Amjad). He alleges the former chairman UC chairman, had hurled threats at the victim a few days ago as Zaheer and his brother were booked under section 109 of the PPC.

Police say that raiding teams have been constituted to trace and arrest the suspects.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026