OKARA, April 11 Tension mounted in the military farm villages after a Christian youth was shot dead and another injured at Chak 10/4-L late on Thursday night.

Two groups of Anjuman-i-Mazareen Punjab (AMP) are cross swords in the area. The group, led by Younis Iqbal Masih, has alleged that the rival faction, headed by AMP secretary-general Mehr Abdul Sattar, is involved in the murder.

Reports said that unidentified assailants had gunned down Javed Masih and injured Nanna alias Kangan Masih when they were on their way to supply liquor to their customers.

Younis Iqbal Masih alleged that the Mehr Abdul Sattar group was behind the murder as most of Christian tenants of military farm villages had voted against Mr Sattar who had lost elections on PP-191 seat.

He said the Christian community would observe a complete strike on Saturday (today) against the murder of the youth.

On the other hand, Mehr Abdul Sattar along with his 300 supporters took out a protest rally and demonstrated outside the DPO office and the Press Club against the police for its failure to register a case against the Kangan group.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sattar claimed that some three days back, an elderly teacher, Muhammad Sharif of Chak 10/4-L, had informed the Cantonment SHO that drug pusher Nanna alias Kangan Masih was carrying a large quantity of alcohol.

The police had recovered 180 litres of liquor after a raid, but the culprits beat a retreat.

He said Kangan called out their accomplices when Sharif had intercepted him and his accomplice who were on their way to supply liquor on Thursday night. To scare away Sharif, he said the culprits resorted to aerial firing.

He said police parties of Cantonment and Okara Sadar rushed to the spot on receiving the information. Seeing the police, Kangan and his accomplices, in panic, opened fire which triggered off a stampede.

The police later, he claimed, arrested Kangan and his accomplice Javed, who were injured in firing by his own accomplices. He said the police had also recovered a pump action gun from the injured culprits.

On Friday, he said the Cantonment police was informed about the murder of Javed.

According to SHO Hasan Askari and SI Muhammad Yasin, he said accused Kanggan and his accomplice had managed to escape from hospital.

He alleged that the SHO and the SI were hand in gloves with the accused party. He demanded suspension of both officials for refusing to register a case against the Kangan group even on the orders of the DSP.

SHO Hasan Askari and the SI were unavailable to offer their comments.

Police have registered a murder case against 20 nominated accused, including Mehr Abdul Sattar, UC naib nazim Zulfiqar Randhawa and Noor Nabi.