Imambargah chief injured in Rawalpindi firing incident

Imrani was returning to his house in Iqbal Town when he was attacked by unidentified armed men.


Kashif Abbasi January 08, 2014
Imrani was returning to his house in Iqbal Town when he was attacked by unidentified armed men. PHOTO: FILE

RAWALPINDI: In what appears to be yet another sectarian incident in the garrison city in a span of three weeks, a religious leader was attacked by unidentified assailants on Wednesday, police said.

Nazir Hussain Imrani, imam of Qasr-e-Sajjad Imambargah, Iqbal Town, who is also a schoolteacher, was attacked by two unidentified assailants in Dhoke Kashmirian on Wednesday morning.

Police said Imrani was returning home on a motorbike after dropping his daughter off at school. When he reached Dhoke Kashmirian, two unidentified assailants riding a motorbike fired a volley of bullets at him and fled from the scene.

Rescue 1122 took Imrani to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

“It’s too early to say anything about the motive behind the killing, but in my opinion it seems like a sectarian attack,” said Sadiqabad Station House Officer Malik Allah Yar.

Speaking to The Express Tribune at BBH, Raja Zawar, a close relative of Imrani said they “collected 11 bullet casings from the crime scene, of which I think three to four bullets hit Imrani”.

Quoting the doctors, SHO Allah Yar said that Imrani had been shot in the chest and face and was in critical condition. A police contingent was deployed at the hospital to avoid any untoward incident.

The police said Imrani, 50, was the imam of Qasr-e-Sajjad Imambargah and was also a teacher at Government Jamia High School.

The Sadiqabad police registered an FIR of the incident against two unidentified assailants on the complaint of the imambargah’s caretaker.

Earlier, on December 31, four unknown assailants killed three police constables deputed outside Imambargah Qasr-e-Shabeer in the limits of Race Course Police Station.

Later, on December 17, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of Asna Ashari Imambargah in the heavily-guarded Gracy Lane area, killing four including two police officials.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi chapter of the Punjab Teachers Association held a meeting at Jamia High School to condemn the attack.

“We demand immediate arrest of the attackers, failing which we will boycott our classes,” said the association’s General Secretary Azmat Abbasi.

COMMENTS (13)

Mirza | 10 years ago | Reply

It is a fact that these victims are usually educated cream of smaller sects and never a rightwing religious political leader. Every enlightened, honest upright man is going to be silenced by the known fanatic terrorist organization. During the last 3 days dozens of children, women, and Shia intellectuals have been killed and there is not much outrage in the country. Only yesterday half a dozen people were beheaded for the crime of being at a saint's shrine in Karachi. If a single high value TTP leader would have been killed by a drone there would be strong resentment, protests and outrage. Targeted killings by drones of a few hundred known terrorists is reason for outrage. The killings of tens of thousands of innocent Pakistanis is no reason to go out on the street and show the anger. It is not surprising the ethnic cleansing of Shia and minorities is going on uninterrupted.

Serious | 10 years ago | Reply Must be some Sunni fanatics . This is very serious matter .
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ