Random violence: 4 men shot dead but police not sure if cases target killings

Attacks took place in Garden, Kharadar, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Old Kumar Wara.

KARACHI:

A young man affiliated with a political party was gunned down in Usmanabad, according to the Garden police on Friday. The victim was attacked outside his house near Dhobi Ghat, sparking panic in Garden and surrounding neighbourhoods where aerial firing was reported. The police were called in.

The victim’s house is located in a congested area where not even a motorcycle could enter, leading the police to believe that the men sitting with him were the attackers. “They were strangers and disappeared soon after,” witnesses told the police.

Elsewhere, 26-year-old Shah Jahan, believed to be a member of the Katchi community, was also attacked. He was shot once in the head and his body was taken to Civil hospital where scores of supporters turned up, upset and demanding arrests.

Police said that the attackers used a small weapon and empty shells were found at the crime scene. But they suspect this killing was not political. According to SHO Sajjadul Hassan, he wasn’t even sure if the Lyari gangsters were behind the incident. He said he suspected the victim was involved in the narcotics trade. “He earlier was arrested by the police in a case,” the SHO said. “He was killed for not paying someone money.”

Close by, in Lea Market, a restaurant owner was gunned down, said the Kharadar police. Fifty-three-year-old Gul Nawab Khan was sitting at his restaurant when he was attacked by two armed men on a motorcycle. According to SHO Ghulam Nabi Afridi, the victim was from Mansehra and lived with his wife and four children in Hijrat Colony, Sultanabad. The police said that they could not say if he was affiliated with any political or religious party for now. FIR No. 192/11 was registered.

Another man was shot dead in Sardar Hotel near Al Asif police check post, said the Sacchal police. Twenty-six-year-old Yasir Abbas, a Gulshan-e-Iqbal resident, was shot twice. He died at a private hospital and his body was sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities. Police said he was killed by friends during a fight while they were having tea. Yasir was unmarried and an employee at a private firm.

The Napier police found a body in a gunny bag dumped in a garbage drum in Old Kumar Wara. SHO Nawaz Gondal went to check it out after people said someone threw the sack from a car. The man was tortured and burnt.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd,  2011.