RAWALPINDI, Aug 17: A woman was gunned down at the site of her disputed land in Dhoke Gangal on Friday as a court commission was trying to resolve the dispute in the presence of the man who allegedly had grabbed it.
Police said the dispute involved Sabira Bibi and Imtiaz Khokhar alias Taji Khokhar who is related to a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
Advocate Ghufran Khursheed Imtiazi, counsel for Ms Sabira, said that he was present to assist the commission appointed by Civil Judge Sardar Hamid when suddenly shots rang out, hitting his client.
“Police accompanying (the commission) fired back but the attackers escaped. Ms Sabira was taken to Benazir Bhutto Hospital where she died later,” he said, suspecting that the attackers were supporters of Taji Khokhar.
Doctors who attended Ms Sabira said she was hit in her legs and died of excessive bleeding.
Her husband, Raja Mohammad Yaqoob, said she had long been seeking justice and accused police of persistently ignoring complaints against the illegal occupants of his commercial plot.
Ms Sabira had lodged an FIR with the Airport police on June 15, saying that Imtiaz Khokhar alias Taji Khokhar occupied illegally her husband’s commercial property, measuring about two kanals and worth Rs10 crore, on Raja Riffat Shaheen Road in Dhoke Gangal.
In his statement recorded with the police, Mohammad Yaqoob said Taji Khokhar started constructing a hotel on his property but he secured a stay order from the court.
“As I sought court help and Taji Khokhar stopped constructing the hotel, he contacted me and promised to pay the market price of the property provided I withdraw the case,” he said, adding that he did that.
However, Taji Khokhar did not keep his promise when he withdrew the stay-order and resumed the construction of the hotel, he said.
Yaqoob also claimed that his house was attacked by Taji Khokhar’s armed men on Thursday but nobody was hurt or injured in the attack.
“I lodged a complaint with the City Police Officer after that attack who called the concerned station house officer and ordered to take appropriate security measures but he did nothing,” he said.
His wife, who lost her life in the struggle to regain their property, had filed a complaint with the Supreme Court also but received no response, he said.
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