GUJRAT, Jan 2: Former MNA Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah and his three aides were shot dead by unidentified assailants in an ambush on the GT Road near Theekarian Morr on Sunday.
Two of his other companions were injured in the attack. Belonging to the Qulewal Syedan village, Mr Shah and his companions were on way home in a jeep and a car after attending a marriage ceremony when the assailants sprayed their vehicles with bullets.
Manzoor Shah, Ashraf Dar, Ghulam Ali and Iqbal died on the spot while Yasir Shah and an unknown man suffered critical injuries. Witnesses claimed that the attackers were in a white car with no number plate. The number of attackers could not be known.
Mr Shah had started his political career in 1964 when he was elected a councillor from Lalamusa. He was elected MNA in 1985, 1990 and 1997 and was considered to be a close friend of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat.
His only son, Abbas Shah, had also been murdered in 1993. The motive behind the killings could not be ascertained immediately. No case was registered till the filing of this report as Lalamusa city police claimed they had not received any written application from the aggrieved family.
'Old enmity' behind ex-MNA's murder
GUJRAT, Jan 2: Old enmity may be the reason behind the killing of former MNA Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah and his three aides here on Sunday, sources in police say. The Shah family had an enmity with the Dhola family. Chaudhry Munawar Dhola and his two sons, Ghulam Hur Dhola and Qasim Dhola, were murdered in Lalamusa on Dec 5, 2003.
Waqar Haider Shah alias Qari Shah, who is son of Syed Noorul Hasan Shah and nephew of the slain Manzoor Hussain Shah, is the nominated accused in the Dhola triple murder case which was registered at the complaint of Munawar Dhola's son Yasir Dhola.
The other nominated accused of the triple murder were Chaudhry Ashfaq alias Shaqi of Gandhra and Syed Amir Shah alias Meeray Shah. Shaqi of Gandhra was later murdered along with 18 companions in Madina Syedan firing in May last while Meeray Shah had reconciled with the Dholas.
Waqar Haider alias Qari Shah was declared a proclaimed offender by Lalamusa city police in the triple murder case. Yasir Dhola who is a British national recently sold his entire property in Lalamusa.
Since the Dhola murder case, Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah, Syed Noorul Hasan Shah and other family members had confined themselves to their houses and outhouses on security grounds. Whenever they moved, gunmen accompanied them.
Meanwhile, PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi condemned Manzoor Shah's murder. They asked the Gujrat police to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
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