SHIKARPUR: Four persons were killed and three others wounded when armed men riding motorcycles struck farmlands on the outskirts of Abdul Rehman Shar village near Garhi Yasin town in Shikarpur district on Thursday.

Garhi Yasin police said that it was the latest in a series of attacks and counter-attacks, involving two groups belonging to the Shar community, that had so far left 23 people dead and many others wounded since 2003. The hostility had begun with an incident of theft, they said.

Reports from the area suggested that a group of armed men targeted Hafeez Shar and some other persons busy working on their lands and opened an indiscriminate fire. The shooting left four persons dead and three others wounded. The deceased victims were identified as Hafeez Shar, 32, Allah Jurio Shar, 45, his brother Shadi Khan Shar, 50, and a passer-by, Mubarak Ali Jakhro, while the wounded victims were identified as Ibrahim Shar and two passers-by, Ismail Jakhro and Badaruddin Jakhro.

The victims were rushed to the Garhi Yasin Tehsil Headquarters Hospital where a post-mortem examination of the four bodies was performed. Doctors at the hospital provided emergency treatment to the wounded victims and referred Ismail Jakhro and Ibrahim Shar to the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, due to their critical condition. Later, relatives of the deceased Shars took the bodies to the nearby section of the Indus Highway off Shikarpur-Larkana Road along Khirthar canal and held a protest demonstration against the attack for three hours.

Umirah Khatoon and Bebak Shar, who led the protest, told the media that the attack was carried out by their rival group in violation of a jirga ruling under which the dispute between the two sides had been settled. The jirga was presided over by former MPA Mir Abid Hussain Jatoi about a month back, they said, adding that they had already paid the fine/compensation to the rival side as per the ruling.

Shikarpur SSP Umar Tufail held negotiations with the protesters and persuaded them to end their protest. He held out the assurance that the culprits would be arrested and taken to task.Later, police carried out several raids on the possible hideouts of the suspects but could not find any of them till late in the evening.

Five wounded in attack

In another incident, five people were wounded in an armed clash between two rival groups, one belonging to the Jafferi and the other to the Jagawani community, in Pir Bukhsh Shujrah village falling within the limits of the Khanpur police station on Thursday. The police identified the victims as Shah Murad Jafferi, Sahib Jafferi, Qasim Jafferi, Gulsher Jagawani and Baboo Jagawani.

The victims were taken to the Shikarpur District Headquarters Hospital for treatment.

The police said that the two groups had an old dispute over a piece of land.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016