BAHAWALPUR: The Saddar police on Saturday night registered a cross FIR in the NA-168 by-poll firing incident against over seventy persons belonging to the Cheema group.

In the FIR, complainant Malik Nawab Channar of Baqirpur alleged that the supporters of the Cheema group attacked and forced them to join the election rally to be addressed by Wali Dad Cheema and others on Friday.

The Bahawalpur Saddar police, on his complaint, registered a report and added it to the FIR registered a day earlier against twenty persons belonging to the PML-N’s candidate in NA-168 Malik Munir Iqbal Channar.

When contacted, Bahawalpur DPO’s Spokesperson Muhammad Ayyub Gujjar confirmed the registration of the cross FIR, which he described as a report by the Saddar police. He explained that after the registration of an FIR, the cross FIR was described as a report.

He said that so far no arrest had been made from either group.

ENCOUNTER: A joint team of the Lodhran Police and Crime Control Department (CCD) claimed to have killed a criminal involved in as many as 28 cases at a number of police stations in the region.

Police claimed that a CCD team signalled three motorcycle riders to stop near Pull Sheikhoo for identification but they opened fire on the police and CCD patrolling team, which was retaliated.

Police further claimed that during the firing, one suspect was killed while his two accomplices managed to flee under the cover of darkness.

The deceased was identified as Ramzan alias Guddoo, who was involved in over 28 cases.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2026