A 10th grade student was shot dead over a land dispute on Tuesday and his father and brother were injured.
Tarkhani police arrested five suspects. They said one of their accomplices had fled.
Police said the shooting occurred in Khushpur village near Samundri, where two groups had had a dispute over land. Both of them had been claiming it as theirs.
On Tuesday, some men from both groups had an argument followed by a scuffle. Someone from one of the groups shot at the other. Faisal Patras, his brother Danish Masih and father Patras Masih were injured.
They were taken to the tehsil headquarters hospital, where Faisal was pronounced dead. Danish and Patras Masih were later reported to be out of danger.
A police team, headed by Station House Officer Mohammad Aamir Khan Lodhi, arrived at the scene and arrested five men- indentified as Taj Din, Khalid, Tariq, Imran and Asif.
One of the suspects fled, police said.
The SHO quoted Taj Din as saying that he had owned the [disputed] land for over 40 years.
He said Patras Masih had been trying to occupy the land and started claiming that he had been allotted the land by the government. He said several quarrels had occurred between them previously.
On Tuesday, he said, Patras Masih, his sons and some armed men arrived at the field while he (Taj Din) and some of his relatives were working there and stopped them.
He alleged that Patras Masih and his men had tried to forcibly take possession of the land which led to an argument.
He said it was them who had fired first and that he and his supporters had fired in self defence.
Patras Masih told police that Taj Din and his men had illegally occupied his land and that he had been visiting him to demand that he return it.
He alleged that Taj Din had recently threatened to kill him if he ever raised the issue again.
A case was registered against 13 men, including those arrested, under Sections 302, 109, 148 and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code (murder and rioting).
Patras Masih nominated Malik Nazir, Khalid Malik, Tariq, Taj Din, Rashid, Shah Nawaz, Asif, Nadir Ali, Imran Ameer, Zaheer Shahan, Abid Sadiq and two unidentified men.
Faisal’s body was sent for a post-mortem examination. The station house officer said that the police were looking for the rest of the suspects.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2013.