2 killed in shooting at tea shop, 9 others gunned down

MQM worker shot dead at MA Jinnah Road.

KARACHI:

Eleven people were killed in separate incidents, including a shooting spree at a teashop in Pirabad.

“I’m going to avenge my brother’s murder,” warned Pehalwan, the elder brother of Gul Rehman, 34, who was gunned down near Katti Pahari on Tuesday afternoon. He said his brother was killed for his ethnicity. “He was in a Mohajir-dominated area and they killed him because he’s a Pakhtun.”

At least four more people were shot dead in Pirabad.

Rehman was a vegetable seller and had no political links. He was on his way to work when armed men opened fire at him. A passerby, Jamal, 26, was also injured. He succumbed to his injuries during treatment. He was a resident of Jhangirabad.

Pehalwan claimed that even the security personnel were trying to run away when the incident happened. “Are they for our protection or just standing there with their weapons?”

Rehman is survived by a wife and six children. He was a resident of No. 2, Muslimabad.

Police officials did not have much to add. “What can I say? You know very well what is going on,” said Pirabad SHO Ali Akbar when asked about the killings in his area. He said they were powerless till the higher officials gave further instructions. “Only they can put a stop to these killings.”

Soon after, armed men attacked a teashop near Metro Cinema, close to where the first incident took place. At least six people were injured in the shooting. They were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Civil Hospital, Karachi. Two of the victims died while the others are still undergoing treatment.

One of the deceased was identified as Nazuk, 31, while the other could not be identified. The injured included Allah Wasaya, 40, Rashid, 22, Ismail, 25, and 12-year-old Sajjad. Separately, 45-year-old Khushal Khan was gunned down near Banarsi Market.

MQM worker killed

A Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker was shot dead on MA Jinnah Road early Tuesday. Police said that two armed men on a motorcycle killed 22-year-old Prakash. Separately, an elderly man was killed in Landhi. Sixty-year-old Sahib Zada was a resident of Gulshan-e-Bunair. He was shot while he was waiting at a bus stop to head to his hometown in Swat. He was shot twice.

Encounter and other killings

The Rangers allegedly killed a suspected drug peddler and arrested eight others during an encounter in Liaquatabad on Tuesday. The Rangers raided Majeed alias Chota Baloch’s den in C-1 Area, Ilyas Goth, in Liaquatabad Town after a tip-off. Majeed’s brother Arshad was killed in the shoot-out that followed and at least eight other suspects were arrested. The group leader, however, managed to escape. When contacted, the police claimed to know nothing about the raid or arrests.

Elsewhere, late night, two men on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at 35-year-old Riaz when he was standing near his estate agency in Sector 11-C/3, North Karachi. As a result, Riaz, his friend Noman, 31, seven-year-old Aiman and bystander Shabana sustained multiple bullet injuries and were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Riaz, Noman and Aiman succumbed. Sir Syed SHO Changaiz Khan said Riaz was a member of the MQM Committee in Azad Kashmir.

Separately, a young man named Shahzad was gunned down near Garden Police Quarters. The police said the victim used to run an estate agency in North Nazimabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2011.