Ameer Balaj Tipu and the burden of Inherited feuds.

Azum
4 min readFeb 22, 2024

Ameer Balaj (Tipu) was born in Dec, 1989 in a strong Kashmiri family of Lahore. He was the grandson of Billa Truckanwala who ran the biggest goods transport network of Pakistan & had strong connections with the elite of Lahore. The Truckanwala group had secured a monopoly in transport business thanks to their connections and fair-doings but they never intended to stop there. Billa ventured into real-estate too where he faced severe opposition from Teefi & Gogi Butt group. They saw Billa’s reputation in market as a threat to their business and killed him in 1994. The killing of Billa Truckanwala started one of the deadliest and longest feud in the history of Pakistan. After the killing of Billa, his son and Balaj’s father Tipu Truckanwala took hold of the family’s businesses, registered legal cases against his father’s killers and went underground for a while but law never took it course. The family’s transport business was booming as always but the plan to expand to other ventures was sidelined for sometime. Tipu wanted to avenge his father’s murder and he started to look for his father’s murderers on his own and all evidences/hints led him to one place, Androon Lahore. The infamous strong-hold of Gogi & Teefi Butt. Tipu and his men started targeting Gogi & his gang but due to little to no experience in the world of crime, they were never successful. On the other hand, Gogi & Teefi continued extending their crime castle and climbed the ranks of Lahore Underworld without any opposition. Teefi & Gogi also gained support from Tipu’s second cousin, the late father of Sohail Shaukat Butt. Tipu and cousins were in bad terms due to family politics and Sohail Shaukat Butt’s father proved to be the compromised Insider of Truckanwala family. Tipu shifted his family & kids to Dubai after his father’s killing and due to the continous reports of him being the next target. He used to visit them twice a year & It stayed like that for a while. But then in 2003 the long silence was again disrupted when Tipu Truckanwala was attacked by shooters when he was on his way to Aiwan E Adal in Lahore. 5 of his gun men were Injured & Tipu himself bore injuries but managed to escape the scene and remained alive. The FIR of this attack was again lodged against Teefi/Gogi Butt group and Abid Boxer but not a single accussed ever got arrested. Tipu also continued his businesses and now used to took more protection, guards and became pro-active in Underworld to stay one step ahead of his enemies. But in 2010, a visit to a dancer proved to be Tipu’s last mistake. Tipu was returning from Dubai after meeting his kids & family & was attacked inside the premises of Allama Iqbal International Airport by shooter named Khurram Ijaz who got a tip about Tipu’s whereabouts from a local dancer he used to visit. Tipu was shot from point-blank and later was prescribed as dead by doctors of Mayo Hospital. The fearless reign of Tipu Truckanwala on Lahore came to end & all markets were shutdown in anger and sorrow. The FIR of his murder was again registered against Gogi/Teefi, Abid Boxer and Malik Ahsaan, who all are part of the local body of PMLN Lahore. Tipu Truckanwala had two sons, Ameer Balaj and Ameer Musaab. Ameer Balaj being the elder one, took control of the family businesses and Inherited feuds, steadily. Balaj was a well-educated, well-manered youngster who wanted to end all of his family’s historical feuds. Balaj ended his enmities with Sohail Shaukat Butt Group and many others too and gave a signal of peace. Most of Lahore’s “Khaandani Dushmaniyan” were ended when Balaj took control of Truckanwala group and started the policy of forgiving and starting over. Balaj had immense respect among traders of Shahalam market of Lahore and appeared to be as a people’s person. But his hardships were not over as yet. Despite resolving his father’s countless disputes and enemies, Balaj saw Gogi/Teefi and Malik Ahsaan as the main perpetrators of his father’s killing and wanted justice so never shook hands with the accused. The accused saw Balaj’s growing connections and good reputations among elite of Lahore as a threat & executed Balaj when he was attending one of his friend’s wedding in ParkView Society Lahore. Balaj had two kids, which’ll now be fatherless for life. Lahore’s markets were once again shutdown in sorrow and protest against Balaj’s killing and demanded justice asap. But as per reports, Teefi fled the country on the night of attack and Gogi Butt was captured by CIA, who was also on his way to escape via Karachi to Dubai. Punjab Police is still identifying who’s behind the killings but Balaj’s family has seen years of these failed investigations which bore nothing but misery for Truckanwala family. Ameer Balaj was not a gangster or mafia man but a well educated, handsome young man who wanted to end all gangwars of Lahore but got his own self killed in the process. Ameer Musab is the next to take over, now the question is, will Musab choose the path of his brother and continue policy of forgiving? or Is Lahore going to see another chapter of ruthless gangwars, this is to be seen!

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