SUKKUR, Dec 8: Zahid Khand, registrar of the Sukkur chapter of the Institute of Business Administration, suffered serious injuries when unknown attackers fired at him from close range in front of his home in Akhuwat Nagar Society near airport road here on Wednesday.

Mr Khand had been receiving death threats since he lodged an FIR on April 15 against a gang of land-grabbers, allegedly patronised by PML-Q MPA Sheheryar Mahar, on charges of attempting to forcibly occupy a plot reserved for the IBA.

According to eyewitnesses, as soon as Mr Khand came out of his house in a car to take his children to a nearby school he was attacked by three armed men who were waiting for him in a rickshaw.

Two assailants dragged him out of the car and pumped bullets in his leg and arm from close range while the third gave them cover, they said.

The attackers escaped when Mr Khand fell on the ground. He was rushed to a hospital by his brother and area policemen but doctors advised to take him to Karachi due to critical condition of his wounds.

Mr Khand could not be reached for comments for obvious reasons while sources in the IBA said on condition of anonymity that the same gang of land-grabbers was behind the attack.

Mr Khand had lodged an FIR against 104 people on April 15, including MPA Sheheryar Mahar, Bahadur Khoso, Akbar Khoso, Ali Gohar and about a 100 unknown men accusing them of attacking security staff of the IBA in an attempt to forcibly occupy a plot belonging to the institution.

Mr Khand had said that the revenue department had allotted eight acres to the institution in 1992 for construction of a girls' hostel and they had documents to prove their claim.

But MPA Sheheryar Mahar had argued that the plot belonged to his man, Bahadur Khoso, and linked the FIR to political victimisation of his party men.

No arrest had been made under the FIR and the case was being heard by the second additional session judge of Sukkur.

Mubeen Khan, counsel for the IBA, preferred to remain tight-lipped about the case as well as the attack on Mr Khand.

According to members of Mr Khand's family, the encroachers' lawyer Bakhshal Khan Mahar and some men belonging to Mahar clan had exchanged hot words with Mr Khand and issued him death threats after he attended hearing of the case on Dec 6.

Mr Khand reported the incident to the IBA authorities, including threats to his life, but they appeared not to have taken the threats seriously, they said.

MPA Shehryar Mahar and his lawyer did not respond to repeated calls made by this correspondent.

An FIR has been lodged on behalf of Mr Khand at the Abad police station in which he has nominated Ishaq Mahar and two unidentified men as his attackers.

Sukkur IBA Director Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui said that when the construction of the girls' hostel started during the first week of December last year some people of Khoso clan tried to stop the work, claiming they and Mahars were real owners of the plot.

The IBA, he said, did not accept their claim because the plot was given to it by the provincial government. After Khosos and Mahars failed to substantiate their claim of ownership during talks the IBA authorities had them evicted with the help of police and resumed construction, he said.

The construction work was still in progress and was likely to be completed in 6-8 months. Khosos and Mahars continued off and on to interfere in the construction work and also threatened registrar Zahid Khand from time to time, he said.

He claimed that the culprits who fired shots at Mr Khand had told him before attack that they were doing this in revenge for his statement in the court against MPA Sheharyar Mahar.