LAHORE, Oct 14: Two minor girls whose entire family has been perished by a gangster are living a dreadful life.

Shaken and afraid, the girls, aged 10 and eight, have lost all of their family members to an enmity. Living now with an uncle, they feel threatened. Their last brother Tariq, 28, has recently fallen a victim to the rivalry.

The uncle of the girls told Dawn that Tariq, a passport agent, had friendship with Imran, alias Munna, who ran a gang of landgrabbers, some five years ago. He said Tariq’s father after learning about Imran’s activities had warned his son to leave Imran, but he did not listen to him. He said this friendship had brought misfortunes to Tariq’s family.

Five years ago, dacoits took away cash and valuables worth Rs100,000 from Tariq’s house. Tariq’s father suspected the involvement of Imran in the dacoity incident. By that time, Tariq had quit Imran. On knowing that he was being suspected of committing the dacoity, Imran began threatening Tariq and his family with dire consequences.

On Eid day, Imran along with his accomplices stormed into Tariq’s house and shot dead his father Ahmed Hassan, mother Safia, and brother Gohar. Three months later, Imran killed another brother of Tariq, Naseer alias Mithu.

Tariq, who and his two minor sisters were the only survivors of the ill-fated family, pledged to avenge the killing of his family members. A couple of months ago, he was nominated in the murder case of Khurram, an accomplice of Imran. Fearing attack, Imran courted arrest at the Sanda police station.

The uncle said Tariq might have been killed at the behest of Imran. He said Imran might have asked one of his accomplices to kill Tariq. He said Tariq was after Imran but he could not kill him, he said.

He said that the two girls were scared. The elder one was nervous and shaky and she did not respond to any question. Her uncle said she cried at night. He said he was upset about his niece. Refusing to disclose his name and address, he came across this reporter at the city mortuary where he had come to collect the body of Tariq. When contacted, the Sanda police denied having arrested Imran.