Religious scholar gunned down in Gulistan-e-Jauhar

A religious scholar returning home from the mosque after sunrise prayers was shot dead by two armed men in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Tuesday. Police said that it appeared to be a targeted hit.

Maulana Abdul Qayyum Sufi, 50, was a member of the Pakistan Ulema Association, and a prayer leader who also delivered Friday sermons. He was a close follo

CCTV footage of the murder shows him walking home in the Block 9 area when a motorcycle with two men wearing helmets approach him. One man gets down the motorcycle and then shoots Qayyum from close range. As the victim collapses to the ground, the two killers escape.

He received a fatal bullet wound to his head.

Police said shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for post-mortem.

Investigators said that it was too early to say although there were similarities to another murder of educationist Khalid Raza that took place in Block 7 last month. In both instances, the killers targeted the victims near their residence after a routine activity. Both deaths were by a single shot to the head.

The victim was an associate of Mufti Munib ur Rehman, who said that the deceased was a prominent religious scholar. He was a Khateeb and head of the Jamia Masjid Muhammadia Noorania and Islamic Centre in Architect Society, Gulistan-i-Jauhar respectively.

A large number of people, including religious leaders and madrassa students, blocked the road where the incident took place in protest against the murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2023.