Seventeen-year-old Manoucheher Munawar Siddiqui, son of prominent businessman Munawar Siddiqui, escaped with his life after a pair of men opened fire at a cafe in Defence.
A young employee of Cafe Equinox was not as lucky and died in the shooting.
The details of the incident are hazy, considering that the police have no real witnesses coming forward and the cafe’s reputation itself —that of a sheesha-bar doubling as a romantic tryst point — is in question. People at the cafe, including the owner, administration and employees, fled shortly after the incident and the police found the establishment locked from the outside. People from the neighbouring shops were cagey about speaking and appeared nervous. A case has yet to be filed and the police are wary of how they approach the case as Siddiqui is an influential man.
The injured teenager has so far only told the police that he did not recognise the attackers. The few witnesses who the police could find, claimed that there were two men and one of them had long hair. They rode up to the cafe on a motorcycle, entered and released about three to four bullet rounds both inside and outside the cafe and fled within a few minutes.
Shopkeepers said they only heard the sound of three to four gunshots and saw people running from the cafe. The attackers also shot a few rounds outside. “Whatever happened, happened inside the cafe,” said another shopkeeper, “perhaps there was a fight inside.”
The cafe, located at the Bukhari Commercial area, is a popular spot for young well-heeled men to gather and smoke sheesha. The police are looking for the owner, believed to be Majid Patel, and people who were there at the time of the attack.
The cafe’s employee who was killed was identified as 22-year-old Gulfam from Azad Kashmir. He was shot in the head and his body was taken to Jinnah hospital along with Manoucheher, affectionately known as Mikki.
Gulfam’s body was not claimed at the time that this news story was filed. Manoucheher went home with his family after his two gunshot wounds, in the leg and the abdomen, were treated.
Police said both victims were shot from close range with a small pistol. They suspect that the attack was over a personal enmity and the injured boy was the target. “It is possible that the boy had a fight with one of his friends that led to the attack,” speculated SP Tariq Dharejo.
The injured boy’s father was busy taking his son home from hospital and thus could not give many details. “Nothing happened, everything is alright,” he told The Express Tribune, “he was shot twice and we are taking him home now. My son was going to tuitions.”
Manoucheher’s friends arrived at the hospital soon after. A young man who identified himself as Faizan and claimed to be from among the friends, said that Manoucheher had gone to smoke sheesha. He added that ‘Mikki’ was studying for his O’ levels at a private school in Darakhshan.
The injured boy seemed very relieved to be going home from the hospital and kept thanking the doctors.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2011.
COMMENTS (30)
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one correction mahi! i know mikki for a long time too he turned 16 not 17 as his date of birth is 1995 oct 12!! so other people plz stay quiet if you dont know anything!! mikki is a very sweet hearted child and would have no fights!! he is a lovable child!! so people plz dont make such comments if u dont know the child!!
one correction Mikki was born 12th october 1994 Sorry for that
well for your information Mikki turned 17 on 12th oct .He was born 12 oct 1995 just a day before my nephew and I know them since they were in Islamabad. cant understand why they r hiding his age as if he is a girl. But yes its a shocking incident but as usual nothing is going to happen. no clues no action
Little knowledge is dangerous so those who do not know anything please try being ffing quiet!
@ Rn .. for yur information,cafe's manager took gulfham to hospital... The management and owner tried to save gulfham... and miki and other friend belong to same social group of friends... so if u dont knw abt the scene so its better to keep yur opinion to yurself
I know the owner of the cafe personally and he didnt runaway.I talked with him right after the incident on the phone and he told me that he was going to the cafe .He used to take care of his employees and he used to treat gulfam like his brother.He rushed to the cafe as soon as he found out about this shooting and was there till late night.I met him at 7 on tht day and he was devastated because of this huge loss.A well reputed newspaper like express tribune shouldnot accuse any1 like this without a proof
the owner did not flee away. and i saw him myself answering the policemen . and even the cafe was open till night so they did not flee away anywhere and if it was an enemity against the owner so why would they have shot other people ? and i guess the report has been written with a lot of critics . against the owner of the Cafe instead of the people who killed a man.
Ok the owner did not flee away , I was there and I saw the owner rushed to his cafe after he heard about the news , he was there when the police arrived , they were there when the police came inside the cafe for questioning and they were there till night , I happen to know this as I work near-by the place ... So basically the owners did not flee.
@TM: My 15 year old CHILD wouldn't be out at night without me being with him! Scared the poor 15 year old and killed the young employee. Get a life TM!
@visha; agreed the author has done a good job at reporting the incident compared to other established newspapers where the child’s name was even misreported. But a few facts need to be straightened; Manoucheher is a 15 year old. He was shot thrice and the arrangement to claim Gulfams body was done by mikkis friends because the owners fled.
@ Balma, Hasan and Lobster. You guys are pathetic and should be ashamed of yourselves. If only it happened to one of your 15 year old child or sibling, you would not be making such comments. Just imagine what would have gone through the poor child’s mind when he was being shot. That trauma has probably scarred him for life. Correction for Express Tribune, Manoucheher was shot Thrice.
I've seen boys and girls smoking sheesha with relish in Block 9, Clifton in a parking lot which is used every night by a cafe. It's very annoying, because one has to endure the fumes while eating dinner. If smoking "sheesha" is banned, why is it being done so openly?
you all should be ashamed of yourself actually going out and assuming mikki had anything to do with this. i happen to know him and can assure you he is the most loving trouble free kid who enjoys life to the fullesdt. so before assuming rubbish about someone you dont know you guys should look into your own lives and how twisted your minds are!
Sorry the email ends with @live.com not @hotmail.com
@ Balma, do you even distinctly know this child to make these assumptions? It is sad how we Pakistanis are so narrow minded about every issue. If you are a father then I'm sorry to say you are a horrible one to not be able to understand what kind of a state a man would be to hear that his 15 years old has gotten shot. It is common sense that he would be taking care of the child, not passing elaborate statements to satisfy the media. Also, those of you who think it's only the 'rich' kids who do sheesha, well I'm sorry to tell you that you all need a severe reality check. And it's funny how everyone has blamed the child instead of considering the fact that it was probably something to do with the cafe's owner. Did you guys forget to read the part where it says the owner fled right after the shooting and was not to be found even hours after the incident took place?!
Another 'collateral' being dismissed who just happened to wander into this twisted game of life that the rich and powerful in our country are so inapt at playing, another unknown who would be shelved under our system if nothing is done about this. This kids needs to be interrogated thoroughly as this was a very target and personal attacks and this kid would know exactly why.
Inna lilalah hi wa Inna ilahi rajion ... And there were 8 gunshots not 3-4 , the poor employee got shot beneath the eye and died on the spot. It is sad how the shooters gets away with it every time , the police was present just near-by but they did not bother to even chase the people who fired the shots ! ! It is pathetic ! I know this because I was nearby the incident . And also if the express tribune wants a photo or two of the scene right after the shooting they can e-mail me.
The child is 15, not a 17 year old. Unfortunate that the main concern is smoking sheesha and not the fact that a 15 year old child was shot and another man killed. A fight between 15 year old`s does not lead to guns being fired, a person being shot dead and a child being critically injured. If sheesha is banned in the country, close down the cafe, make it a crime to sell. And yes, the father didn't say anything further, and shouldn't have been expected to, because speaking to a journalist was not on his list of priorities, getting his child out of danger was. The "Express Tribune", a well established newspaper, should be more careful about quoting the facts of an event.
The child is 15, not a 17 year old. Unfortunate that the main concern is smoking sheesha and not the fact that a 15 year old child was shot and another man killed. A fight between 15 year old`s does not lead to guns being fired, a person being shot dead and a child being critically injured. If sheesha is banned in the country, close down the cafe, make it a crime to sell. And yes, the father didn't say anything further, and shouldn't have been expected to, because speaking to a journalist was not on his list of priorities, getting his child out of danger was. The "Express Tribune", a well established newspaper, should be more careful about quoting the facts of an event.
These rich guys can get away with killing any poor Pakistani. This son of Munawwar Siddiqui knows a lot more about who attacked him but police isn't going to ask him !
People should give a bit of thought to young man who died, as he also had family, and possibly breadearner too for them !!!
this was personal
I pray that the young employee of Cafe Equinox didn't lose his life because of the actions of this Manoucheher Munawar Siddiqui.
May you rest in peace Gulfam.
was this in lahore ?
a man died and a kid was attacked on, and you guys are worrying about him smoking shisha. You guys are craaazy
A 17-year-old smoking tobacco? Like other laws, the law to prohibit minor smoking is also thrown out of the window.
Oh, my son who is seventeen was supposed to be at tuition because he can't concentrate on his studies during school time....well because he thinks he is old enough to flirt with girls or boys (?) and isntead was doing sheesha (read smoking tobacco ) and then he got shot twice....but every thing is fine, no problem...cool.
Vah majaa aagayaa
Inna lilalah hi wa Inna ilahi rajion.....Terrible incident :( Sad times when you are not even safe while dining out in City of lights. Wasn't Sheesha smoking banned by Sindh Government Earlier in Cafes??