RAWALPINDI - Three real brothers were gunned down while two others were critically injured by four armed men over fight between children at PTCL Colony, within the limits of Police Station RA Bazaar here on Friday.
Those who were killed identified as Muhammad Azeem, 32, Muhammad Nadeem, 26, and Muhammad Amir, 24, whereas Muhammad Zareen, 46, sustained bullet injuries.
Police registered First Information Report (FIR) against the four killers with no arrest so far.  The enraged family members, including the injured brothers, placed the dead bodies in the middle of the Mall Square and staged a protest demonstration, blocking vehicular movements for hours.
According to Muhammad Zareen, who sustained bullet injuries and was sitting in the middle of Mall Square as protest, told TheNation that a quarrel occurred between his cousin Nabeel and son of Chaudhry Shahadat, an employee of PTCL residing nearby his home, in school on some issue on Thursday.
Later, Chaudhry Shahadat along with his brothers Chaudhry Amir, Chaudhry Arshad and his son came to his home in a white car and knocked the door. Upon responding, Chaudhry Shahadat shouted over him and asked who had beaten his son, said Zareen.
“I told Shahadat that the sons of Qureshis are with Nabeel in the fight. On this Chaudhry left my house while using abusive language to get the sons of Qureshi. In the meanwhile, I sent my two brothers to PS RA Bazaar to inform police about the incident but police did not entertain us. Meanwhile, Shahadat and his accomplices came back and started indiscriminate firing on us killing my brother Muhammad Nadeem on the spot while injured two other brothers Muhammad Azim, Muhammad Amir and a cousin Muhammad Nawaz. I also sustained bullet injuries on my legs,” Zareen stated while rolling tears on his cheeks. “Had police officials responded in time, the lives of my brothers would have been saved,” Zareen cried. After committing the crime, the assailants managed to flee, he added.
A heavy contingent of police rushed to scene along with Rescue 1122, which shifted the dead bodies and injured to DHQ for post mortem and treatment. However, Azeem and Amir succumbed to injuries in DHQ.
Later, hundreds of relatives and residents held a protest demo by placing coffins and injured persons in the middle of Mall Square in Saddar and chanted slogans against police high-ups for showing sheer negligence. The protestors blocked Peshawar Road and its linking roads from traffic for more than three hours, posing hardships for commuters and pedestrians.
Station House Officer (SHO) Raja Mussadiq, when contacted, denied the allegations that police reached late on crime scene. He said that he was holding a meeting with a brigadier and colonial in the police station when two brothers came and lodged their complaint seeking police help. He said that he was about to issue orders to his subordinates to go with the complainants when one of two men informed him that the assailants killed a man and injured four others. The SHO was of the view that he immediately ended the meeting and rushed to the crime scene.
He said that killers fled after committing crime. He said that a murder case has been registered against Ch Shahadat and Ch Arshad and two unknown assailants. Several police parties were also constituted which were conducting raids at different localities to arrest the killers, the SHO added.