Target killing: PPP activist shot dead

Deceased was nephew of President Zardari’s former security guard.

KARACHI:

Tension engulfed parts of the old city following the target killing of a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) worker on Saturday evening. The deceased was also the nephew of Akram Baloch, a security officer at Bilawal House and a former security guard of President Asif Ali Zardari.

The incident took place in Salar Goth within the jurisdiction of the Napier police station. Police said the victim, identified as 28-year-old Owais, son of Abdul Razzak, was standing nearby his residence with a friend, when two armed men, riding a motorcycle, opened indiscriminate fire at him. The assailants escaped from the scene after completing their operation. The victim was shot at least thrice from close range. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Scores of PPP workers and the victim’s relatives reached the hospital soon after, and condemned the incident. PPP Karachi division information secretary Sohail Abidi informed The Express Tribune that the victim was associated with the UC-1 of PS 110.

SHO Shahid Mehmood said that the deceased was married and ran his own business. He added that no case had been registered as the police was busy controlling the law and order situation in the old city areas, where commercial activities were suspended.

Earlier, a young man was gunned down near Safoora Goth Chowrangi within the remit of the Sacchal police station. The victim, 21-one-year-old Ismail, son of Hazrat Hussain, was a resident of Bagh-e-Rizwan Society, Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

According to SHO Agha Shamshad, the victim was shot at least four times. The deceased hailed from Swat and police suspected that he was killed over personal enmity.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and later moved to the Edhi Morgue. No case was registered till the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2011.