Criminals, gangsters, and conmen—these characters have often captured the public’s imagination as lawless vagrants flying parallel to their own mundane lives. They carry an aura of mystique and mystery lined with macabre undertones. Though Pakistan doesn’t have much film industry to glamorize this life, it still exists, and its prevalence in major cities may shock the average reader.
In Pakistan, there is no shortage of street gangs capitalizing on poor law and order situations. Drifting south to crime-addled Karachi, many would reminisce on the time when gangs would act as de facto warlords in the city. Catching a flight to Islamabad would have made us a lot safer, facing more traditional urban crime. Meeting in the middle of the city of Lahore, we can document a blood feud between two of the most notorious gangs in the city.
Lahore is the colorful and authentic centre of Pakistani culture, but as the cultural lights dwindle and darkness brims and glows, let’s recant a gang rivalry that has rocked this aged city to its core. It’s a story of revenge sustained by a cycle of endless violence heralded by gun-toting and lion-rearing gangsters.
The Origin of Billa Truckanwala
It began with Ameer-U-Din, a man familiar only with the boisterous world of traditional Akhara wrestlers. It was a sport financed by the patronage of nobles and aristocrats alike, but as the republics of Pakistan and India formed, the wrestling life came under the threat of extinction. Strong and stout, Ameer was emboldened by his ambition, growing a modest transportation business into a nationwide fleet of 300 trucks. His success bred the alias “Billa Truckanwala.”
As a man of significant influence and sway in the region, Billa was often approached with pleas. A dearth of law enforcement meant Billa became a “godfather” figure. In his Dera, nestled near Gawalmandi, he became a necessary judge, jury, and executioner deciding land and inheritance disputes.
Billa built a formidable trucking empire, starting with hundreds of trucks that eventually expanded into thousands. He ruled his trade routes with an iron grip, becoming the go-to figure for anyone seeking the seamless transport of goods. His reputation for ensuring that shipments moved securely from Point A to Point B, free from threats, was unmatched.
Beyond trucking, Billa was a prominent property magnate. He owned numerous shops and small businesses strategically scattered around the Shah Alam Gate and Ichhra Bazaar. These ventures not only generated substantial revenue but also entrenched him deeply within the city’s commercial fabric. With trusted family members managing these establishments, Billa maintained an unyielding grasp on the local markets, always aware of the undercurrents and any challenges to his authority. Billa exerted dominion over local gangs and fugitives at the height of his power through his vast network and many loyal tenants. He employed ruthless violence to establish this empire, and that violence had a way.
The Son – Tipu Truckanwala
Like any gangster’s epoch, it inevitably began to crack. Former allies Khawaja Taarif, better known as Teefi Butt, and his cousin Khawaja Aqeel, alias Gogi Butt, established a reign of terror that cast a long shadow over Lahore. Their paths diverged as Billa’s son, Tipu Truckanwala’s escalating ruthlessness, created an atmosphere of fear within Androon Lahore. The animosity between Billa Truckanwala and Teefi Butt originated from a dispute over a small plot near Mochigate but quickly escalated into a full-blown family rivalry. This feud birthed two powerful factions that clashed over dominance in Lahore.
The Butts formed their gangs and claimed swaths of territory, focusing their efforts on the Gawalmandi area and, notably, the bustling Shalmi Bazaar, also known as the Shahalam Market. The rivalry deepened as the battle for territorial control intensified. Teefi and Gogi Butt’s influence in Gawalmandi became so entrenched that no real estate deals could proceed without their consent. Allegations of systematic extortion, mainly targeting local merchants in the form of protection money, further cemented their infamy.
Around 1988, accompanied by his steadfast ally Hanifa, Billas’s son Tipu confronted a shopkeeper named Ameer-ud-Din over a dispute about rent collection. To this day, the question of who fired the fatal shots that ended Ameer-ud-Din’s life remains unresolved. Billa leveraged his connections within the police force and maneuvered to have Tipu absolved of any involvement in the murder, leaving Hanifa and his brother to bear the weight of the conviction. This betrayal, however, calculated, ignited a bitter vendetta that would simmer in the shadows.
Hanif and Shafiq rotted in jail, obsessing over the betrayal, scheming, and dreaming of their revenge. They knew all the ins and outs of Billa’s movements and Dera. Upon their release from prison, Hanif and his brother wasted no time allying with Teefi Butt’s faction. With the Butts’ blessing, they set their sights on Billa. The fateful moment came in the early hours of a morning in 1998. Billa, now an ageing figure of authority, his once-imposing presence softened by thinning white hair and a wispy snow-colored mustache, had just finished his morning prayers and was leaving the mosque. As he returned to his Dera, Hanif and a group of armed accomplices stormed the premises. In a brutal and calculated assault, they unleashed a hail of bullets, ending the reign of Lahore’s most powerful crime lord.
Now in a predictable rage of retribution, his son Tipu Truckanwala launched a vicious assault on the Butts. The cycle of violence ebbed and flowed, neither gaining a decisive edge, merely bleeding each other of men and the sanctity of home.
But those who live a gangster’s life must also contend with a gangster’s death. On January 21, 2010, Tipu Truckanwala landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on his way back from Dubai. The burly Tipu was alone when he came out of arrivals. His men were waiting outside to receive their boss and take him to his Dera.
The threat of danger may have slipped his mind, the paranoia seizing for a minute as he thought he was safe. But he was wrong; upon moving towards the parking structure of the airport, gunman Khurram Butt himself, along with a number of his supporters, opened fire at Tipu. The crime boss was hit but not taken down. What followed was a messy chase around the parking lot, which ended with Tipu being shot in the abdomen and left for dead on the ground.
A second-generation Truckanwala had been killed, and power fell to a third that would follow the same hateful lineage. Ameer Balaj Tipu was now the head of the Truckanwala family and sought to rebuild his father’s empire. Despite being young, Balaj’s maturity and efforts to settle old grudges seemed promising. He even attempted to move political connections from their traditional friends, the Sharifs, to the burgeoning Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
However, his public attempts at reconciliation were met with resentment from the Butts, who feared Balaj’s rise would challenge their long-standing dominance in Lahore’s criminal underworld. Their fears were not unfounded—Balaj’s ambitions threatened to overturn the delicate balance of power that had long benefited the Butts.
Each generation seemed to fall younger than the last. Balaj didn’t last much longer. On February 18, 2024, Balaj, accompanied by his family and close associates, was preparing to leave a wedding venue when four gunmen ambushed him. Balaj’s younger brother, Ameer Mussab, filed a murder case against Gogi and Teefi Butt, implicating them in the assassination. However, both suspects fled, and the investigation has since struggled to bring them to justice.
The death of Ameer Balaj marks the three generations of the Truckanwala family to be struck down in this ongoing war. With Balaj’s passing, the criminal landscape of Lahore seems poised on the edge of even more violence. The event has bred even more retaliation, as men assassinated Javed Butt, brother-in-law of Teefi Butt.
This gang war underscores the violent undercurrents of Pakistan’s gang culture, where power is secured not by law but by intimidation, retaliation, and bloodshed. For decades, families like the Truckanwalas and the Butts have ruled Lahore’s underworld, shaping the city’s criminal landscape. Yet, as these families vie for control, their deadly legacies continue to claim lives with no resolution in sight. In Pakistan, the streets may be teeming with life, but beneath the surface, the spectre of violence is always just a step away.
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The author is studying Economics at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) with a keen interest in financial affairs, international relations, and geo-politics.