MIRPURKHAS, Jan 25: Panic spread in several villages following a dispute between farmers and irrigation officials over the opening of a watercourse.

The former president of the Mirpurkhas Bar Association, Mr Shamsuddin Shaikh, and villagers were repairing a watercourse in Deh-126, Jamrao East canal, to supply drinking water to villages when SDO irrigation Ibrahim Daudpoto and about 40 private gunmen reached the spot.

The armed men started beating villagers and resorted to aerial firing to disperse them. A police team, headed by SHO Soomar Mangrio, rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Mr Shaikh submitted a complaint at the Dilbar Mahar police station, accusing the irrigation SDO and the gunmen of violating the court order and attacking him and villagers.

He said the watercourse had been approved as the court had rejected an order of the director of the Nara Canal Area Water Board in 2003. He alleged that the irrigation official had demanded a bribe of Rs200,000 from villagers.

Mirpurkhas Bar Association president Ali Hassan Chandio, Abdul Ghafoor Mahar and office-bearers of the growers' association Rais Ahmad Khan and Irshad Siddiqui condemned the attack.

They urged RPO Hyderabad and DPO Mirpurkhas to lodge an FIR against Ibrahim Daudpoto and gunmen, otherwise lawyers and farmers would launch a protest campaign against the irrigation officials.