Death toll in Karachi target killings rises to 19

The situation remains tense in Karachi as the death toll from recent target killings has risen to 19, in the past 40 hours.

Four people lost their lives Thursday morning alone. One of the them was gunned down in Orangi Town, another in Surjani Town and two more in Lyari.

Updated from print edition (below)

Karachi target killings death toll rises to 12

The death toll of the recent spate of target killings reached 12 on Wednesday. Three bodies, bearing torture marks, were found from different parts of the city.

The bullet-ridden body of Faiz Rasool Khan was found in a gunny bag from the bushes in Orangi town. Iqbal Market Police Station SHO Liaquat Ali said identification documents were found from the victim’s pockets. He was a resident of Baldia Ittehad Town, he said, adding that his family had registered a case two days ago, claiming him to be missing.

The SHO said the victim hailed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and was a labourer by profession. He was killed because of an old enmity as the victim’s affiliation with any political party has yet to be confirmed, he explained.

Similarly, another body bearing torture marks was found near Taiser Town at the Northern Bypass. The victim was identified as Syed Amjad Ali, son of Syed Liaquat Ali, and was a resident of Sector 5-D in New Karachi, said Surjani Town Police Station SHO Altaf Dehar.

“Unidentified suspects kidnapped and tortured him before throwing his body at an abandoned place,” he said.

The body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital and later to the Edhi Morgue. The police have yet to register the case.

In another incident, unidentified armed men kidnapped and later killed a 28-year-old man of Baloch ethnicity and left his body on the Lyari Expressway.

According to the Pak Colony police, the identity of the victim has yet to be ascertained. After kidnapping him, the suspects tortured and then shot him in the head at a close range, a policeman added. The body was taken to Civil hospital for legal formalities.

The bodies of young men found on Wednesday marked the fourth consecutive day of the incidents.

Senior police officers suspect that these incidents mark a new trend in the killings as the targets are first kidnapped, tortured and killed in one place, then the bodies are discarded at a different location.

Funerals

The funeral ceremonies of the political party activists who were killed on Tuesday were held on Wednesday.

Two ANP workers, Furqan Butt and Fazal Qadir, were buried at the Pehlwan Goth Graveyard.

During the funeral ceremony, tension prevailed in the area as angry activists of the party and the victim’s relatives resorted to aerial firing, forcing the shops to close down.

Three men, 22-year-old Atif, 40-year-old Zuberi and 31-year-old Salman, were injured by stray bullets. Rioters tried to burn a petrol pump in the area, however, the police and Rangers managed to disperse them. The funeral ceremonies of Abdul Qadir and Ashraf were performed at the Wireless Gate. People there also burnt tyres in protest in Shah Faisal Town and forced residents to stay inside their homes in Alfalah, Green Town and Rabia City. Incidents of aerial firing were reported in Model Colony and Azeem Pura.

An ANP worker, Saqib, who died after succumbing to bullet injuries, was also buried in Greentown on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, at least five people were killed in different parts of the city during one hour. Among them, three men were ANP activists and one of them was a member of the Bengal Action Committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2010.