MQM worker identified as main shooter in Rangers’ murder case

The witness is a Rangers personnel who identified the suspect thrice from a dozen dummies

KARACHI: An eyewitness identified on Monday Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker Umair Hussain Siddiqi alias Jailor, as the main shooter in a Rangers personnel's murder case.

The witness, who is a member of the paramilitary force and was injured in the firing, identified Siddiqi thrice from among a dozen dummies before an East district judicial magistrate. Siddiqi is alleged to have committed, ordered or abetted at least 64 acts of targeted killing.

He has been accused of gunning down Rangers lance naik Shaukat and wounding another in the Mausamiyat area in December, 2010. The case was registered at the Mobina Town police station under Section 302, premeditated murder, and 324, attempted murder, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The suspect was reportedly arrested during the March 11 raid at the MQM headquarters along with several others convicted and wanted criminals, however, he denied this, contending that he was picked up in February from his home.



Siddiqi, who worked as a computer programmer at a public health institute in Liaquatabad and volunteered at the party election cell, has been presented as a commander of a target killing cartel in the city.

According to a press release issued by the Rangers two months ago when his arrest was revealed, the suspect had formed a team, comprising 23 shooters, to carry out terrorism activities in the city on the directives of a former party leader, Hammad Siddiqi.

Subsequently, he was implicated in two cases of murder, including the one he has been identified in, after his three-month preventative detention. In the other case, he has been accused of killing two tea vendors in Gulshan-e-Maymar.

The judge, after presiding over the identification parade, sealed his report to send it to the Anti Terrorism Court trying the suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2015.