Drive-by shooting: After 2 murders, 2 more lawyers gunned down

The victims were affiliated with the PML-N.

KARACHI:

Mere days after two lawyers were killed, two more members of the legal fraternity were gunned down, this time in a drive-by shooting near the FTC building on Shahrae Faisal on Friday.

The victims were identified as Mohammad Saleem Bhatti, 45, and Fahim Riaz Siddiqi, 50 - both affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The two lawyers killed earlier were Mukhtiar Abbas Bukhari who dealt with cases of suspects belonging to the banned Sipah-e-Mohammad Pakistan and Mohammad Junaid, who tackled cases of suspects belonging to the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

DIG East Naeem Ahmed Borkha will be investigating the case with SSP East Ahsan Omar, CIA SSP Raja Omer Khattab and AVCC SSP Farooq Awan. “We will not only probe these killings but will also look into eight more cases which happened in the recent past,” he said.

The PML-N’s Saleem Zia said that Siddiqi was the organising secretary of the PML-N’s lawyers forum while Bhatti was the PML-N lawyers’ wing’s provincial vice-president.

Both men were married. Siddiqi lived in Malir and Saleem in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

According to SHO Akhtar Abbas, they had left office and were on their way home. Siddiqi was driving his black Toyota Corolla car (Z-9053) and had to first drop Saleem home, something he did quite often. They were both shot in the faces at close range with a 9mm pistol.  The Karachi Bar Association’s Naeem Qureshi said they worked as high court lawyers and that after the death of Iqbal Rao, Siddiqi was also looking into the hijacking case of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

KBA president Mohammad Aqil announced a strike at the courts across the province.

The victims were both members of the KBA and Sindh High Court Bar Association.

Their bodies were taken to Jinnah hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th,  2011.