KASUR: Two under-trial prisoners in a murder case managed their escape from the Pattoki judicial lock-up on Wednesday.

Later, father of one of the prisoners died of a cardiac arrest after police raided his house.

Two prisoners Abu Bakr and Muhammad Younas were brought to Pattoki courts from Kasur in connection with the hearing. They managed their escape from the judicial lock-up.

Later, police raided the house of Younas at Jagowala in Sara-i-Mughal. Seeing the police, Shah Muhammad, father of Younas, died of a cardiac arrest.

The death of Shah Muhammad sparked off a protest as a large number of villagers blocked Multan Road near Bhonikay Mor. They alleged that police tortured him to death.

Led by Muhammad Razaq, brother of Younas, the villagers demanded action against police. Traffic on Multan Road was out of gear for about an hour.

The Kasur district police officer have constituted a team for arrest of the absconders.

RECOVERED: A-Division police on Wednesday recovered a man who had allegedly been kidnapped three days back over some monetary dispute.

According to complainant Tahira Ayub of Dhorkot, three suspects, including Waqas, allegedly kidnapped his brother Shahzad from near his house on March 19 over a monetary dispute. She said the captors demanded payment of the money Shahzad had borrowed from them.

Police on a tip-off recovered Shahzad, who was in chains, from an abandoned house in Kot Usman locality.

PROTESTS: Four protests were held here on Wednesday in Kasur.

The Pattoki bar members went on a strike against what they said rude behaviour of two additional district and sessions judges.

On the call of General Secretary Muhammad Azam, the lawyers boycotted court proceedings. They alleged that judges Nasir Hussain and Shaukat Iqbal Dar humiliated lawyers.

In the second incident, All Pakistan Clerks Association observed a strike against the alleged rude behaviour of Pattoki AC Shah Rukh Niazi.

The revenue staff of Kasur, Chunian and Pattoki went on a strike and demanded action against the suspects who allegedly manhandled a naib tehsildar some days back.

The protesters said Khudian Naib Tehsildar Amjad Ali was performing his duty when Lumberdar Jamil and his accomplices allegedly tortured Ali and his staff. The protesting officials demanded a case against the suspects and their arrests.

Scores of officials under the flag of All Pakistan Clerks Associations took out a rally that started from Katchery Chowk and ended at the office of Kasur Deputy Commissioner Amara Khan.

The protesters were demanding an increase in their salaries.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017