Violence continues: Two brothers, two cops killed in the city

One of the victims was a Persian language instructor.

KARACHI: A teacher of the Persian language at the Khana-e-Farhang Iran [Iranian Cultural Centre] was shot dead on Monday along with his elder brother, in what the police believe to be an incident of sectarian target killing in Nazimabad.

The two Shia community members, 30-year-old Basheer Muhammadi and 32-year-old Nazeer Muhammadi, were on their way to work when armed assailants on a motorcycle shot them multiple times with 9mm pistols, Gulbahar SHO Mohsin Ali told The Express Tribune. The victims succumbed to their injuries before the ambulance could take them to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.



Muhammad Shifa, a security officer at the cultural centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Karachi, told The Express Tribune that Basheer Muhammadi had been associated with the Khana-e-Farhang for the past six years as a Persian teacher and was then promoted as the incharge of language instruction.

"He was a very simple man and somebody who was very genuine in his conduct," said Shifa. "I have no idea why anyone would do this to him." The deceased hailed from the Skardu district, one of the seven districts of the Gilgit-Baltistan area, and were residing at the Mahnoor Apartments in Nazimabad No. 2. The elder of the two brothers, Nazeer Muhammadi, was privately engaged in the medical supply business, added the police.

The bodies of the deceased were sent to Skardu, after funeral prayers were offered at the Babul Ilm mosque in North Nazimabad.

MWM condemn incident

Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen secretary-general Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafari criticised the federal and the provincial governments for what he termed as 'their complete failure' to control terrorist attacks and target killings of the Shia community. "The deplorable incidents in Taftan and Karachi are proof that the respective governments have failed to shoulder their constitutional obligations."

Police continue to be targeted

In an unrelated incident, an assistant sub-inspector of the special branch, 32-year-old Hasanat Shah, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Orangi Town's Mominabad. Shah was posted at the Pirabad police station and was returning home after duty, said SHO Zahid Hussain.

Meanwhile, a personnel of the traffic police, 35-year-old Faiz Muhammad, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Abdullah Govt College for Women in North Nazimabad. Sharae Noor Jahan SHO Tariq Mahmood said that the deceased was posted at the Garden traffic police station and was returning to his residence located in Ittehad Town after duty. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2014.