Two political workers and rickshaw drivers killed since Monday

The rickshaw drivers were found tied to an electricity pole, the party workers were shot dead.

KARACHI:

Four people, including a senior worker of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and a local leader of Awami National Party (ANP) were killed in targeted attacks and five people were injured since Monday night.

Majid Hussain Baloch, a PPP worker, was shot by two men on a motorcycle near Teen Hatti when he was sitting in front of his house. Baloch’s friend retaliated, said the police, and injured the attackers as well. A passerby, Elahi Bux, 24, was also caught in the crossfire and was injured with Baloch. Both were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Baloch died.

According to SHO Mumtaz Shah, the victim was an active party worker but was also wanted for drug peddling in Super Market and Liaquatabad police stations. Shah said that Baloch also had a dispute with a Lyari gangster, Shahid Pikik, and it is possible that he might have been shot dead over a dispute. Baloch left behind four children.

The district central leader of PPP, Sohail Abidi, condemned the incident and said that Baloch was also a close aide of President Zardari and the security in charge of Bilawal House, Bilal Sheikh. Abidi termed the murder “an act of cowardice.” No case had been registered till the filing of this report.

The police found two torture-marked bodies in Kashti Chowk in Old Kumarwara in Saddar.

The bodies were tied to an electricity pole. The victims were indentified as 56-year-old Abdul Razzak and 38-year-old Mohammad Akram. They were the residents of Sector 1A in North Karachi. Both men were related and hailed from Sialkot. They had gone missing on Monday.

According to SHO Imdad Khawaja, both the victims were rickshaw drivers and also drug users. They had gone to Lyari on Monday to buy drugs from where they were kidnapped and later killed and their bodies dumped at Kashti Chowk. The bodies were taken to Civil hospital.

Abdul Razzak was the father of 10 children, said the police. They said that they were trying to find out the motive behind the murders. They registered an FIR on the request of Shahzad, Razzak’s son, against unidentified men.

Five people were injured in indiscriminate firing over the murder of the vice president of Pak Colony of Awami National Party on Monday evening.

Furqan Shah, 32, was shot in Hasrat Mohani Colony in Pak Colony. It was rumoured that the victim was killed over an extortion dispute but SHO Abdul Moeed said that it was an act of target killing.

Shah was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Violence erupted in the area as people opened indiscriminate fire. Five people, Hasnain Nasri, Ishaq, Akhtar Hussain, Zulfiqar and Basharat were injured and were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Shops and markets in the area shut down and police and Rangers came to the area to try and control the situation.

The chief of the Sindh chapter of ANP, Shahi Syed, condemned the killing of his party worker and demanded that the attackers be arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2012.