Target killings: Five killed, Deoband leader arrested

The police claim that the ANP leader was killed over personal enmity.


Our Correspondent April 04, 2012

KARACHI:


On Wednesday, three people, including a member of the Awami National Party, were gunned down in different parts of the city.


Omar Malook Khan, 36, was shot at three times near his house in Sector 35A, Taiser Town, said the Surjani police. He was ANP’s senior vice president in UC-5. The police claim that Khan was not alone when he was attacked, three of his friends were also there but managed to escape unhurt. Khan was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

According to the police, this was a case of target killing and most probably took place over personal enmity.

SHO Shabbir Hussain said that according to Khan’s friends, two men wearing trousers and formal shirts arrived at his house on a motorcycle. The man in front was holding a pistol, while the one sitting behind him was holding two pistols. Both men opened fire at Khan simultaneously.

“I do not think he was killed because of his political affiliation,” he said. “This is a Pashtun dominated area. It would be very difficult for someone to come unnoticed from the outside and kill him.” He added that there was a possibility that Khan was killed by the people he was with at the time but could not confirm anything till an investigation was carried out. No case was registered. The ANP spokesperson condemned the murder and demanded that the government form an inquiry team to look into the target killings of party members and leaders.  Khan was a property dealer by profession and leaves behind three children. Aerial firing was heard in neighbouring areas and most shops put their shutters down fearing an escalation in violence.

In Sohrab Goth, unidentified suspects killed a 28-year-old man identified as Sher Hakeem, said the police. They claim that he was a vegetable vendor at New Sabzi Mandi on Super Highway and was standing outside the market when he was gunned down. FIR no. 247/12 was registered by the police against unidentified suspects.

The body of an unidentified young man was found in a gunny bag in Karimabad, said the Azizabad police. They claim that the man was strangled to death.

In an unrelated case, the police detained a leader of the Deoband Action Committee identified as Qari Bashir Ahmed Leghari in a raid in Sector 7, Surjani Town. So far, the police denied the arrest.

A Rangers sepoy identified as 35-year-old Irfan who was injured on April 1 near Gulistan-e-Jauhar passed away on Wednesday at PNS Shifa Hospital. The police claim that he worked with the Shahbaz Rangers in Sukkur and had arrived in Karachi on a four-day leave. SHO Tahir Ayub said that he was shopping with his wife when men in a car shot at him. He leaves behind two children. The SHO said that they still had to determine if he was targeted because of the ongoing violence or a personal enmity. FIR no. 170/12 was registered against the suspects on a complaint from the wife.

In another incident, 33-year-old Nauroz Khan, a public call office owner, was gunned down in Sohrab Goth. Nearly four hours before this incident, a vegetable vendor was also killed there. SHO Ghaffar Jumani said that he was shot at by unidentified men in his office over personal enmity.

The bodies of the three unidentified people, including a woman, who lost their lives in the violence last week, have not been claimed and remain at the Edhi morgue. According to Edhi official Anwar Kazmi, about 10 bodies were brought to the morgue. He told The Express Tribune that most of the bodies were brought from Lyari and Orangi Town. He added that the bodies of a woman and two men were brought from Aram Bagh, Orangi and Kalakot had not been identified as yet and would be buried if no one claimed them.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

Syed Owais Mukhtar | 11 years ago | Reply

Karachi is becoming a city of crimes rather than a city of lights, who is responsible for this, indeed those all who are sitting intact and doing nothing to bring peace. http://syedowais.blogspot.com/

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