Headmen take out villager’s eyes for reporting water theft

Village headmen in Changa Manga took out the eyes of a small local villager who had reported them to the police for water theft.
According to sources, a farmer, Soba Bhatti, registered a case against village headmen a few days back, accusing them of water theft. Soba was returning home after watering his fields when the Khalil alias Bodi Bhatti, Ahmed Din, Ibadat Ali, Safdar Ali, Mubarik Ali and others intercepted him at Phailani Chowk, started beating him up and took his eyes out with a knife. While Soba lay on the floor screaming in agony, Khalil’s men threw taunts at him before fleeing the scene.
When Soba’s family learned of the incident they took him to a local hospital where the doctor declared one of his eyes beyond repair and said that the other, which was also severely injured, might be revived.
The police did not register a case against the accused on Soba’s family’s request but arrested five people off the record. A Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) worker is thought to be among the arrested.