Target killing: ASWJ’s legal consultant, activist gunned down

25-year-old Ishaq was shot dead as the bodies were brought home.

KARACHI:

The Ahle Sunnat wal Jammat’s legal adviser and a party activist were shot dead in the Old City area on Tuesday evening, said the Risala police.

The incident took place in Jodia Bazaar’s Pan Mandi where 32-year-old Mohammad Ali alias Mama and 23-year-old Mohammad Noman were travelling in a rickshaw when two men on a motorcycle fired at them. Both suspects managed to escape. Mama and Noman were taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi. Mama died on the way while Noman died while being treated.

SHO Abid Hussain Shah said that Ali and Noman were on their way home from the City Courts. He added that Ali was a resident of Memon Society in Lyari while Noman lived in Moosa Lane.

The officer said that both men were from the ASWJ, formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. While talking about the motives behind the murder, SHO Shah said that initial reports suggest that it was a sectarian target killing.

ASWJ’s spokesperson Maulana Taj Hanfi said that Ali was the legal adviser of the Karachi division and their core committee’s chairman. Ali had worked as a legal adviser for three years and leaves behind two daughters. Hanfi added that Noman was a member of the core committee and was unmarried.

The spokesperson condemned the target killings and demanded the government arrest the suspects.

Red alert

Tension gripped Lyari and Saddar after the bodies were sent home from the hospital. Unidentified men started intense aerial firing and major markets, including Jodia Bazaar, Abdullah Cloth Market, Khajoor Bazaar and Timber markets were shut down. As a result of the firing, a man in Memon Society was shot dead and a car on Shah Waliullah Road was set on fire.

The man was identified as 25-year-old Ishaq. A heavy contingent of the police and Rangers were deployed to control the situation. No case was registered when this report was filed. The police said that they were waiting for a complaint to register the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2012.