Cook accompanying parent shot outside montessori in DHA Phase VIII

Police insist killing was the result of a personal enmity.


Our Correspondent March 21, 2013
PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:


A young cook of a woman was shot dead outside a school in DHA Phase VIII on Thursday, when several parents had gathered outside the school to pick up their children. 


Muhammad Bux, 20, was hit by two bullets fired from a 9mm pistol, said the police, insisting that the killing was the result of a personal enmity. “The cook was going with the woman in a Suzuki Mehran to pick up her child from school,” said Rafaqat Ali, the SHO of Darakshan Police Station. “A man intercepted the car and targeted the young man.”

As the hit-man loaded the gun, the woman offered all her valuables but the suspect turn down the offer, he said. “Apparently, the cook had some personal enmity, which is why the shooter followed him here all the way from rural Sindh. The gunman came to settle the score.”



SP Clifton Nasir Aftab said the attacker had come from Jacobabad, the victim’s hometown. “He was only after the young man. Let me assure you, it was not an attempt to kidnap or rob anyone.”

The incident comes just days after rumours about kidnapping of students in DHA went viral on social networking websites. A bold attempt to kidnap a woman and her daughter from outside a popular shopping mall led to wide spread fear among the residents.

Inadvertently causing panic?

For the police officials posted in DHA, technology has become a bane. The killing did exactly what the kidnapping rumours had done past few days: create panic as worried parents called each other and discussed the incident with friends, fueling more anxiety.

The woman whose cook was killed was going to pick up her child from the montessori. The murder took place a kilometre away from the school but in a bid to pacify parents, the school administration sent messages on cell phones saying it was a targeted incident or not a random attack. This inadvertently created more panic among some parents.



“I think the [school’s principal] should not have messaged us. It only added to our anxiety,” said a worried parent, who has a child enrolled at the educational institution. “I am relaxed now that I know it was not a robbery or a kidnapping bid. But who really feels safe in this city?”

DHA has also asked the parents to remain calm, insisting that security outside schools within its jurisdiction is sufficient. Despite calls and messages sent on her number, the school principal failed to respond.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2013.

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