MUZAFFARABAD: More than a dozen houses belonging to members of Gujjar tribe were set on fire by their opponents from Rajput tribe in a village near here on Tuesday, over alleged abduction of a girl.

The incident occurred in Dudhpura village in district Hattian Bala, where daughter of one Raja Naseer was allegedly abducted by someone from the Gujjar tribe about two weeks ago.

The girl’s family did not lodge any complaint with police and instead a jirga of notables from the rival clans decided that the girl would have to be returned by Tuesday.

As the girl was not returned by the deadline, people from Gujjar clan expressed their helplessness in this regard which aggravated the situation and led to the torching of around 16 houses.

They included 10 tin-roof houses and three shelters. Three of the units were uninhabited.

A senior police official told Dawn that cases had been registered against the accused and they were being hunted by the police teams.