Man stoned to death in land-grabbing episode

Islamabad
Killing over land dispute is a routine matter in rural areas of the country, which has now shifted to big cities after property-grabbing became trouble-free and a gainful business.
In one such case, a man was stoned to death by a gang of alleged land-grabbers. He sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot in the jurisdiction of Golra Police Station.
In the village of Shah Allah Ditta, the land dispute took the life of Syed Mustajir Shah when dozens of people took a piece of land in their possession.
The Golra Police, quoting the statement of Syed Zubair Hussain Shah, said that the alleged land-grabbers have been identified as Dostan Khan, Wali Ahmad, Shamsur Rehman, Saleh Mohammad, Habib Khan, Yasir, Pir Mohammad and Niaz Mohammad.
When Syed Mustajir Shah, along with his brother, tried to stop them from taking the possession of land owned by his family, they pelted stones and injured him severely on January 19.
Police said that the alleged land-grabbers started beating the victims with heavy stones and killed one of them on the spot besides kidnapping some of them, including the complainant, Syed Zubair Hussain Shah, and locked them in a room after torturing them. However, the suspects escaped from the scene when a police team conducted a raid upon receiving information. Police said that the people involved in the killing and kidnapping were being hunted down and police teams have been sent to various places for their arrest.
The family members of the deceased have demanded of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that influential people were backing the killers as so far no arrests were made despite registering of an FIR against the accused. They accused police of supporting the accused party so justice should be provided to them against influential land- grabbers.