LAHORE, March 8: A man was killed and two others seriously injured after customers opened fire at a petrol pump in Pakistan’s Punjab province following a dispute amid panic buying of fuel triggered by fears of shortages due to the US-Iran conflict, police said on Sunday.
The incident occurred on Saturday in Sialkot, about 100 km from Lahore, when an altercation broke out between customers and workers at a filling station on Daska Road, police said.
According to police, long queues of motorists had formed at the petrol pump as concerns grew over oil supplies following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict.
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Two men who arrived in a car had their vehicle filled with petrol and then asked the filling station worker to fill fuel in a couple of jerry cans they had brought with them.
The station worker refused, saying filling fuel in cans is not allowed under government policy.
“This led to an altercation between the filling station staff and the car riders,” police officer Dost Muhammad said.
The car riders left, threatening them of dire consequences, he said.
“An hour or so later, the car riders came back with automatic weapons, assaulted the filling station staff and opened fire on them, leaving three workers critically injured,” Muhammad said.
One of the injured, identified as 25-year-old Muhammad Sibtain, succumbed to his injuries in hospital, while the condition of the other two remains critical,” he said.
The main suspect, Khawaja Munib, has been arrested. A case of murder and attempted murder has been registered against him and four of his accomplices, police said.
Meanwhile, panic buying of petrol and diesel has been reported in parts of Pakistan after authorities announced a steep increase of PKR 55 per litre in fuel prices on Friday.
Several petrol pump owners in Punjab had temporarily shut their outlets ahead of the price hike, triggering long queues and panic among motorists.
The surge in petroleum prices, attributed to the US-Israel-Iran conflict and disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, is expected to push up the prices of essential commodities and transport costs across the country.
“The 20 per cent increase in oil prices means a 20-25% rise in the prices of commodities, essential items, fares, materials, and transportation. It means additional and sudden burden on consumers,” businessman Farooq Yousuf Sheikh said. (PTI)
