Shot in close range: Advocate shot dead on his way to work

Bukhari was working on a missing persons’ case for MQM.

KARACHI:

A Sindh High Court (SHC) advocate was gunned down in front of his house in Korangi on Wednesday morning in what looks like a targeted attack. He was also a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's legal aid committee.

The incident

Syed Ali Hasnain Shah Bukhari had just left home and was about to sit in his car to go to work when he was shot. "Two men opened fire at him," said Bukhari's younger brother, Muzammil Shah, who was with him at the time. "They fired at me as well but, luckily, I survived."

Bukhari was shot at three times and died on the spot. The body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Witnesses claim that four men were involved in the attack and all of them had covered their faces with cloth. They said that two of the assailants had fired at the advocate while the other two were waiting at a street corner as backup support for their accomplices.

Investigations

As news of Bukhari's death spread, family, friends and MQM leaders gathered at the hospital to condemn the incident. One of the cases Bukhari had been working at before his death was a missing persons' case on behalf of the MQM.

The police claimed to have identified three of the four men involved in Bukhari's murder.

"It is a clear case now," said Zaman Town SHO Shaukat Awan. "It was not a sectarian killing. Three of the four witnesses have been identified. They were from the same neighbourhood and will be arrested soon."

After medico-legal formalities were completed, the body was taken to an imambargah in Ancholi for the funeral. Bukhari was laid to rest at the Wadi-e-Hussain graveyard amid tight security.

A small protest was held outside the imambargah where people shouted slogans against the killing, government and law enforcers. No case was registered till the filing of this report.

Lawyers' react

Following the killing, legal proceedings at all courts in the city, the SHC, City Courts, Malir Courts and the anti-terrorism courts and other special tribunals, were suspended on Wednesday. SHC Chief Justice Faisal Arab suspended all legal work on a request from the SHC Bar Association. Court officials told The Express Tribune that the chief justice was reluctant to issue such directives but accepted the bar association's request. He asked the association's representatives to find out an alternate way to record protests as frequent strikes created a heavy backlog of cases.

Notices issued on bar's plea

The chief justice also issued notices to the provincial advocate general, prosecutor general and deputy attorney general on a plea from the SHC Bar Association seeking an investigation into Bukhari's murder and compensation for the family. The notices were issued for March 10 on an application filed by the association's president, Abid S Zuberi, and was later converted into a constitutional petition.

The chief justice was also requested to direct the government to pay the family of the deceased Rs20 million as compensation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2015.