Pak Rangers shoot down man trying to cross over to India

A man was gunned down by Pakistan Rangers personnel while allegedly trying to cross over the border to India in Punjab province, local residents said today.

According to the local residents, the paramilitary border guards nabbed Shah Nawaz, a resident of Attari village, near the border in Kasur, 40 kilometres from Lahore, and shot him dead yesterday.

Immediately after the incident, the local residents captured some Pakistan Rangers personnel and alleged that they were involved in killing Shah Nawaz.

The paramilitary personnel were handed over to police in Mandi Ahmadabad.

The local residents placed Shah Nawaz's body at an intersection and protested against what they said was the high handedness of the Pakistan Rangers personnel.

They demanded that police should register a murder case against those involved in the incident.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Shabir Warraich told journalists that, according to Pakistan Rangers officials, Shah Nawaz was killed while trying to cross the border.

Local parliamentarian Mian Khurram Jahangir Wattoo expressed concern at the killing of "an innocent man of his constituency" and said he would bring the matter to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's notice.

In June, Pakistan Rangers personnel shot dead a youth in cold blood in a park in Karachi. Following a public outcry, an anti-terrorism court sentenced a paramilitary trooper to death and awarded life imprisonment to four more.