Cleric shot dead in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar

A prominent cleric, Ziaur Rehman, was shot dead in Block 16 of Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Tuesday night.

Rehman was reported to be the administrator of Jamia Abi Bakar, a seminary in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

According to ASP Zafar Chaanga, Rehman died on the spot after two assailants on a bike opened fire at him while he was taking a walk in the park opposite the Federal Bureau of Revenue’s (FBR) building in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

SSP East Irfan Bahadur said that the police found 11 bullet casings from the site of the murder, of which four were of 9mm calibre and seven belonged to a .30 bore.

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He added that CCTV cameras around the area had been identified, and the footage from them will help the police in identifying the shooters.

Bahadur said that eyewitnesses told the police that two men opened indiscriminate fire at the cleric.

Earlier this year, on March 21, a member of the Pakistan Ulema Association and the central leader of the Sunni Ulema Council was shot dead by unknown suspects in a reported ambush in the port city's Gulistan-e-Jauhar area on Tuesday.

Maulana Abdul Qayyum Sufi reached his home after offering Fajr prayers where two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed him. The cleric received a fatal bullet wound to the head and the suspects soon fled the scene.

According to police officials, Rangers and law enforcement agencies reached the spot and the crime scene unit was summoned to collect evidence. The body of the deceased was taken to Jinnah Hospital for post-mortem.