Caught: Suspects held for murder of PPP stalwart

Sharif was arrested first and helped hunt the others.

KARACHI: Four men were detained during the past week on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the president of the employees union of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Forty-two-year-old Syed Ahmer Ali Shah, also known as Amir Shah, and his friend, Mairaj Khalid Jagirani, were killed when his white Toyota Corolla was attacked near Munawwar Chowrangi in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on July 16. Shah was shot eight times with a small pistol.

Bilal, Sajjad, Ahmed Ali and Sharif were arrested in raids from different parts of the city.

Sharif was caught first, and the other raids were conducted on the information provided by him last week. According to Sharif, Bilal was the mastermind of the attack and paid the men Rs200,000. He was arrested from Korangi. He is also suspected to be involved in land grabbing.

Shah was a senior activist of the PPP and served at many posts during his 18-year tenure with the party. He began his political career from the Peoples Youth Wing and was its president in Karachi. He was also Benazir Bhutto’s security guard when she came to Pakistan in 2007.

He was the father of four children and lived in Sindh Baloch Muslim Cooperative Housing Society near Pehlwan Goth in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2011.