Two MQM men killed: Three shot dead in sectarian attacks
KARACHI: At least three people were shot dead in sectarian attacks and two on political grounds in different areas on Thursday that witnessed a total of nine killings only a day after a dozen of people were gunned down in separate incidents of firing across the city.
The rising wave of shootings came as a grim reminder of the sectarian, political and ethnic violence in the city in May that had claimed around 250 lives. On Thursday, fear and tension gripped parts of Orangi Town after a Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist was killed in a targeted attack.
Police said MQM activist Mohammad Akram was gunned down in Sector 11 of Orangi Town.
They added that 32-year-old Akram was going to drop off his son to school when armed men riding a motorbike fired a shot at him in Khalil Market within the remit of the Iqbal Market police station.
As soon as he fell on the road, the attackers came closer to him and separated his son from him, said a senior police officer. Then they pumped seven bullets into him, causing his instant death, and fled, said Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Abdul Waheed.
The body was later shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. The SDPO said the victim was an activist of MQM Unit 124. Following the killing, all the shops and markets in Baba Wilayat Shah Colony and Pakistan Bazaar were closed.
The victim’s funeral was attended by a large number of people, including some party leaders, in the Khalil Market area. He was later buried in the Star Ground graveyard in Sector 11½, the police said. Another MQM activist was killed in a narrow lane of Kharadar, police said.
They added that Mobeen, 24, son of Abdul Aziz, was sprayed with bullets near Madni Centre. He died on the spot.
The body was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities. The police quoted hospital sources as saying that the body bore eight gunshot wounds. A large number of party workers reached the hospital after learning about the incident.
The victim was an active party worker and his brother was also an office-bearer of the MQM in the old city area, said a senior police officer of the area. The officer said that no such incident had ever taken place in the area as it comprised very narrow lanes. Following the murder, traders pulled down shutters in Fariya Street, Hussian Cloth market and Jodia Bazaar.
Sectarian attacks
A 55-year-old caretaker of an Imambargah was killed in a drive-by shooting outside the Imambargah near Do Minute Chowrangi in New Karachi on Thursday night, police said. They added Shabbir Hussain was targeted by armed men riding a motorbike as he came out of Imambargah Wali Asar within the remit of the Bilal Colony police station.
“The victim was the caretaker of Imambargah Wali Asar,” said SP Gulberg Division Latif Siddiqui.
He said Mr Hussain was heading home in the quarters adjacent to the Imambargah when he was targeted. “He was basically the caretaker of the Imambargah, but whenever required he also used to give Azan,” the SP said.
The police said that the victim’s family had arrived from Gilgit a day earlier. Tension prevailed in the area where all shops were closed down shortly after the attack. The police later shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
In another sectarian attack, an office-bearer of the Ahle Sunaat Wal Jamaat was gunned down in PECHS on Thursday night, police and party sources said. They added that Maulana Kaleemullah was riding a motorbike along with a friend when the former was targeted within the remit of the Tipu Sultan police station. His friend remained unhurt, the police said.
While the Baloch Colony and Tipu Sultan police stations had some confusion over their respective jurisdictions, ASWJ workers took away the body.
Before the police or an ambulance could shift the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities, the party activists shifted the body to the Siddiq-i-Akbar mosque at Nagan Chowrangi.
A spokesman for the ASWJ said that the victim was the party’s Malir sector in charge. The Tipu Sultan police later went to Nagan Chowrangi to fulfil the legal requirements. In yet another sectarian attack, a young man was gunned down on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road on Thursday night.
Mian Zulqadar and his nephew were going home in their car when the former was killed in an attack that a senior police officer described as sectarian. “Mr Zulqadar sustained a single bullet wound which proved fatal, while his nephew escaped the incident unhurt,” said an officer of the Mobina Town police station.
The victim was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the officer added. “The killing seems to be sectarian in nature, unless something else comes to the fore,” said DIG (east) Shahid Hayat.
The police investigators said that Mr Zulqadar was a former worker of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and an organiser of a weekly bazaar in the area. However, they added, the murder seemed to have been carried out on sectarian grounds.
The victim was a resident of Gulshan View apartments, a place not far from the crime scene, the police said. The body was shifted to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities.
Man shot dead inside home
A young man was shot dead inside his home in the Yousaf Goth area of Saeedabad, police said. The officials added that four men barged into the residence of Abdul Rehman, 32, and shot him dead while he was asleep in the early hours of Thursday.
The police quoted his widow as saying that the victim had a dispute with some people in the interior of Sindh. The victim was an ex-employee of the Karachi Electric Supply Company and had started working as a mason after leaving the power utility, the police investigators added.
The body was shifted to the CHK for a post-mortem examination, the police said. One killed near confectionary shop. A young man was killed in a drive-by shooting near Ayesha Manzil in the early hours of Thursday, police said. They added Syed Qasim Khan, 35, was targeted near a sweets shop by armed men riding a motorcycle.
The victim died before he could be shifted to a hospital, said an official of the Azizabad police station. The victim was a resident of Federal B Area, he added.
Man found shot dead
A man was found shot dead in a vacant plot in the Khayaban-i-Rehat area of the DHA in the early hours of Thursday, police said. They added the victim had sustained a gunshot wound to his head. The police shifted the body to the Edhi morgue for want of identification following the medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
‘Bandit’ killed
A suspected bandit was killed in a shoot-out with police outside a bank in Ghanchi Market, Malir 15, while his accomplice managed to escape, officials said. The police said that a patrolling team acting on information about armed robbers on a looting spree rushed towards the crime scene where an exchange of fire with the bandits ensued. During the shoot-out, one of the bandits was wounded while the other sped away on a motorbike, the officials said.
They added that the wounded bandit was shifted to the JPMC where he was identified as Tanveer Ahmed, 23, a resident of Landhi. However, he died during treatment, the police said.
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