MQM unit in-charge sentenced to death in Waqas Shah murder case

Asif Ali is accused of killing his comrade during a protest that erupted after Rangers raided MQM headquarters in 2015

KARACHI: A Karachi-based anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday awarded capital punishment to a former unit in-charge of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Waqas Shah murder case.

Syed Asif Ali, also an MQM worker, is accused of killing his comrade during a protest that erupted after the Rangers raided the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, on March 11 last year.

According to reports, the ATC further awarded seven-year imprisonment to the accused besides ordering him to submit a fine of Rs0.5 million for carrying an illegal weapon.



During the trial, the prosecution had maintained that the suspect, using a pistol, shot Shah at a time when the paramilitary force resorted to aerial firing in a bid to disperse the crowd that had converged to protest against the raid.

Shah, the 25-year-old MQM worker affiliated with the party’s student wing, suffered a single bullet which hit his cheekbone and pierced through the back of his head, according to the post-mortem report.

The MQM said that the lethal gunshot came from the Rangers personnel, however, the paramilitary force refuted the allegation, shifting the responsibility on Shah’s comrade. None of the Rangers’ personnel carried a 9mm gun used in the killing, the force asserted.

Ali was arrested three months after the incident in an ‘intelligence-based’ raid by the Rangers in Shahdadpur. The paramilitary force said the suspect had fled the city to avert arrest and a few top MQM leaders, including Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, knew about the incident.