LAHORE, May 29: A number of people, including the immediate family and relatives of three rivalry victims of Gujjarpura’s Karol village, lodged a three and-a-half hour protest against the killings by blocking The Mall in front of the Governor’s House on Thursday.

Among the protesters were more than 30 women and children who appeared in two tractor-trolleys and a pickup. They placed the three bodies in front of the Governor’s House and burnt tyres in a violent protest which brought the city traffic to a standstill.

A land owner, Muhammad Azam, 36, was going by a tractor-trolley along with his two employees, Muhammad Ameen, 30, and Shaukat, 35, and their families to load watermelon from his land near Alipur village (Ferozewala tehsil).

As they reached near the lands owned by one Annu Bhatti, at least 10 armed people of his rival Bao Azeem group ambushed them, killing three of them on the spot.

Azam, the father of nine, had already lost two brothers and a paternal cousin in the firing of his opponent.

“The armed men sprayed the rival party with bullets for at least 10 to 20 minutes and killed my husband Shaukat, among others, in spite of my entreaties,” aggrieved Seema Bibi, an eyewitness to the incident, told Dawn.

She said the gangsters pushed her husband and fired shots at him from a close range. “My eldest daughter is hardly eight and how will I earn livelihood for my five children,” she asked weeping and wailing.

Cantonment investigation SP Babar Bakht Qureshi told Dawn that both groups had enmity over picking sand from the Ravi and after the murder of Bao Azeem by ‘unidentified’ people in Sahuwali Mughalpura in 2004-05.

He said after the murder of Bao Azeem, Shaukat had started lifting sand in large quantities and became rich. He said Bao’s son Maqsood Azeem and nephew Afzal, suspecting involvement of Shaukat’s younger brother Liaquat in the murder of his father, had killed Liaquat, his brother and a cousin.

The SP claimed on the instigation of some locals, Maqsood and Afzal managed to hire assassins and killed the rivals. A case was registered against 15 people, including Maqsood and Afzal, the two proclaimed offenders.

Later, he said the Bao Azeem party complained that Shaukat managed to kill a member of their gang in Shahkot. The Bao group drew more blood by killing two more men of Shaukat and now another three had added to the list of casualties, he added.

The SP said Bao Azeem group would hire assassins who killed the people of their rival group in police uniforms. The official said so far eight people of Shaukat group had been killed over the same issue, adding that both groups had enmity over having influence in the village.

Some of the nominated accused, he said, were still in jails while Maqsood and Afzal were in the hiding. He confirmed that PML-Q stalwart Ashiq Diyal was backing the Bao Azeem group.

The SP said the crime scene revealed that at least three to four armed men were involved in the murders who had used three types of weapons.

PROTESTERS’ VOICE: The protesters alleged that the police gave a sound beating to them and blocked their two tractor-trolleys before reaching the Governor’s House for protest.

They alleged that the killers of their nine members of the family were still at large.

Muhammad Shaukat, the elder brother of victim Azam, told Dawn that nine people, including his three brothers, had been murdered by the rivals during the last two years over land disputes.

He alleged that Maqsood was leading his rival group and was supported by PML-Q’s Ashiq Diyal. Shaukat said at least 40 children had lost their fathers on their side in the killing spree by their opponents.

According to him, at least six bails of their opponents were accepted by a district and sessions judge who received hefty gratification to do the needful.

Azam’s sister, Sardar Bibi, told Dawn that the rivals had started killing her dear ones to grab their more than 125 acres.

Mano Bibi, the maternal aunt of another young victim Ameen, said her nephew, a resident of Bara Manawala (Sheikhupura), was an employee of Azam for the last more than one year.

POLICE FAILURE: A poor law and order situation and the police higher-ups’ inability to handle it and convince the protesters led to chaotic scenes.

Capital City Police Officer Muhammad Pervez Rahtore reached the scene after two hours while SSP (Operations) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmad reached even late.

At least four divisional SPs earlier tried to placate the protesters, led by Shaukat Ali, but to no avail. The CCPO and the SSP too failed to pacify the mob.

PPP leader Khalid Ghurki and PML-N MPA Mohsin Lateef also reached the place to give assurances to the protesters. Finally, Chief Minister Sardar Dost Muhammad Khosa, who was himself driving his vehicle and got stuck in the traffic mess, reached the scene around 4:30pm and assured the aggrieved family of all possible cooperation for the arrest of the killers.On the CM’s request, the protesters, who had hitherto stuck to their demand that PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif should listen to them, finally agreed to remove the bodies. Three police vehicles transported the bodies to the city mortuary for autopsy.

The Gujjarpura police registered a case under sections 302, 109, 148, 149, 389 & 427 of PPC and 7-ATA against 10 nominated accused, including Maqsood and Afzal.

The CCPO later visited the aggrieved families at their homes and informed them that teams had been constituted to trace the culprits.