Violence continues: Two political workers gunned down

Firing at MQM offici­al’s house, tensio­n grips Rizwan Societ­y, Orangi.


Faraz Khan April 19, 2011

KARACHI:


Violence continued on Monday as two political workers were shot dead.


Meanwhile, in a separate incident, unidentified suspects opened fire at the house of Saif Abbas, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s joint incharge of the Central Information Committee. The men shot at the house, in Federal B Area Block-10, late Sunday night, damaging Abbas’s and his neighbour’s cars. No one was injured. Saif Abbas said that he was in the house when the firing took place. “People in the neighbourhood said there were three to four men in a car and they quickly escaped [after the firing],” he informed.

MQM’s Rabita Committee has condemned the firing and they demanded the government take serious notice of the incident and arrest the perpetrators.

MQM worker gunned down

Meanwhile, the spate of drive-by shootings continued in the city on Monday. In the first incident, an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was targeted and killed in Rizwan Society, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, within the remits of the Sacchal police station.

The deceased was identified as 28-year-old Mirza Imran Baig. The police said the incident took place when he was on his way home in his black Hyundai. SHO Agha Shamshad said the suspects, on a motorcycle, opened fire at Baig when he was near his house. He was first taken to the nearest private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. His body was later taken to Jinnah hospital.

The SHO confirmed the affiliation of the victim with the MQM and said that he was associated with the party’s unit 33-D. The deceased was shot twice and the police also found two empty shells of the .30 bore pistol from the crime scene.

The area was gripped with tension after the incident. Aerial firing was reported in the area and a passenger bus was also set on fire. Shops closed down and a heavy contingent of law enforcers was called in. No case has been registered yet.

PPP worker killed

A Pakistan Peoples Party worker was gunned down and another was injured in Orangi Town in Pakistan Bazaar police station limits. The two men were sitting at a teashop in Bungla Bazaar when two unidentified men, also on a motorcycle, opened indiscriminate fire. Fifty-two-year-old Asghar alias Pakistani alias Bihari died instantly while Ahmed Ali, 30, was injured.

The suspects escaped after the swift operation. Both the victims were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. According to doctors, Asghar was shot once in the chest.

PPP Karachi division information secretary Sohail Abidi told The Express Tribune condemned the incident and said the deceased was a party activist, adding that the victim’s son-in-law, Asif, is the president of PPP’s PS-95. Abidi said the victim, Asghar, also participated in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death anniversary in Larkana.

However, a senior Orangi police, requesting anonymity, said there was the victim was not affiliated to the PPP or any other party. “The PPP is trying to exploit the murder,” he told The Express Tribune. “He was a notorious land grabber and we are gathering the records of his cases.”

He said the armed men fired at least eight rounds and the police also found empty shells of a .30 bore pistol.

Unidentified body found

Separately, a young man was shot dead at Rashid Minhas Road within the remits of the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police station. The victim is yet to be identified.

The police found his body near Lal Flats, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. SHO Asif Jhakrani said the victim was shot once in the head and once in the chest.

His body was taken to Jinnah hospital for an autopsy. The police said they found two empty shells near the body.

The police have registered a case against unidentified men on behalf of the state and investigations are under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th,  2011.

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