A man was shot dead outside the house of a retired judge of the Sindh High Court, Justice Zawwar Hussain Jafri.
Zainul Abideen was 32 years old and lived in the street next to the Jafris, in Block 5 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. He was a banker by profession but ran a private business.
He was friends with Jafri’s son, Sarfaraz. They were going for Friday prayers together when he was shot dead.
According to Sarfaraz, as soon as Zainul Abideen got out of his car and sat in theirs, to leave for an imambargah, around seven men, in a silver Suzuki Cultus and a motorcycle, opened fire at them. “Abideen was sitting in the front while we were at the back,” he said. “Our guard also fired and the men tried to run away.”
But the timely arrival of the police enabled them to arrest two men after a brief encounter.
According to witnesses, a rickshaw blocked the street and prevented the attackers from escaping.
Meanwhile, the police heard the gunshots and arrived at the scene. “If the rickshaw hadn’t been there then the shooters would have escaped like always,” they said.
According to District East SSP Javed Odho, the policemen deputed at Madinatul Imambargah heard the gunshots and immediately rushed to the scene. They tried to stop the men but they opened fire. The police retaliated and arrested Jamil and Munir while the other five escaped. They also found a .222 rifle, a Kalashnikov, a TT pistol and seized their car, which had a fake number plate.
It is suspected that the men belonged to a banned organisation. But Odho said that the investigation was in initial stages so he could not be sure of the actual motive.
He said that Abideen had resisted what seemed like an attempt to snatch his car, two days earlier. It is possible that the two incidents might be connected, he said. “From the evidence we have right now it seems that Jafri is not connected to Abideen’s death. But we are looking at all he angles, personal enmity, robbing attempt, kidnapping or sectarian violence.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
COMMENTS (1)
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This brazen attack took place despite having a guard and police presence nearby.
At least they caught 2 of them. The other 5 need to be found. Not enough to have banned organizations...individuals must be caught and held accountable for their militancy or targeted killing.
Hopefully the courts won't release the 2 caught on any technicality, considering the victim was the retd. judge's neighbour.