Two killed, eight injured in Gilgit land dispute clash

GILGIT: A land dispute in Sultanabad, a suburban village of Gilgit, turned violent on Wednesday, leaving two people dead and eight others injured in a firing incident between two groups.

According to sources, the dispute stemmed from one group allegedly encroaching on “khalisa sarkar” land, which was reported by another group to the tehsil administration. The administration took action, erasing the structure, which escalated tensions and ultimately led to the clash.

The clash occurred between two factions of the Gujjar community over the land dispute in Sultanabad. The exchange of fire resulted in the deaths of Ghulam Rasool, son of Ghulam Muhammad, and Jan Fakir, son of Habibullah.

Eight people were injured in the clash, including Abdur Hamid, his mother, and Abdur Khaliq from one faction, and Rahim, son of Habibullah, Hazrat, son of Gul Mir, Faisal, son of an unknown person, and Shafia, wife of Abdul Ghafur, from the other faction.

The injured were rushed to nearby provincial headquarters hospital and Shaheed Saifur Rehman Hospital, where they are receiving medical treatment. Police have deployed heavy contingents at both hospitals, while Additional SP Gilgit, SDPO Danyore, and SHO Danyore are also present at the scene.

The bodies of the deceased will be handed over to their heirs after post-mortem, while the injured suspects will be arrested once they recover. Police have warned that no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands, and action will be taken against all individuals involved in the incident without discrimination.

Raids are being conducted to arrest more suspects.

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Earlier on Wednesday, a prolonged armed conflict which had crippled life in Kurram district, came to an end with rival parties signing a peace agreement following a two-week long grand jirga in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Three members of the jirga said both sides will hand over weapons to the local authorities, all roads would be opened and bunkers removed.

The jirga decided that there would be a complete ban on exhibition and use of weapons and no one would be allowed to collect donations for buying arms.

After the agreement, normalcy would hopefully return to the crisis-hit Kurram. Its main road connecting Parachina, the main city in Kurram, and Peshawar remained closed for 80 days. The Pak-Afghan border at Kharlachi also remained closed for trade and pedestrians whereas many main roads in Karachi were also closed for traffic due to protest sit-ins against the besiegement of Kurram.