Target killings : Police charge MQM-H chief with Baig’s murder

Targeted murder results in riots across city, several killed and dozens of vehicles burnt in protest.

KARACHI:

The police have charged Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) chief Afaq Ahmad for the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist Farooq Baig.

Baig was a member of the MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee and was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Bagh-e-Korangi road within the jurisdiction of Sharafi Goth police station on Monday afternoon. He was accompanied by his companion Habib Rasheed, and both were travelling to the MQM headquarters Nine Zero when they were attacked. His killing triggered a wave of violence in the city, with at least four people shot dead and over 25 vehicles were burnt as a result of the protests. A First Information Report (FIR), No. 104/11, was registered at the Sharafi Goth police station, on the complaint of Habib Rasheed, who sustained minor bullet injuries. The FIR claims a violation of sections 302, 324, 109/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC)

SP Nasir Aftab told The Express Tribune that the case was registered against MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmad who is currently imprisoned in Karachi Central Jail and other MQM-H workers, including Ejaz Babu, Dilawar, and Dildar and one unidentified man. The officer said that the FIR registered by Rasheed claims that Baig was murdered on the orders of Afaq Ahmed. However, no arrests were made till the filing of this report.

However, SP Aftab said that the police have arrested 10 persons involved in the subsequent violence. When asked about the political affiliation of the arrested suspects, Aftab said that the answer to this question should be “obvious”.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2011.