Thursday marked a double tragedy for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh as it lost a veteran activist, Malik M Khan who died at a protest against the Supreme Court conviction of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
After the verdict came in, he began gathering people for a protest in Lyari. He was gunned down minutes later by men who tried to disperse the protest at Aath Chowk. He was leading the crowd when four men on two motorcycles cornered him and opened fire.
“He was gathering people for a demonstration at Shaheen Complex,” said PPP leader Latif Mughal. “Some men tried to stop the protest and opened fire. Everyone started to run except for Khan.”
As news of his death spread, PPP leaders including MNA Nabeel Gabol and Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro reached Civil hospital. “We know who is behind the murder,” said Gabol, a close friend of the deceased. “The government must enforce a curfew in Lyari and carry out a thorough operation against criminals.”
The visibly shaken Khuhro told reporters at the Sindh Assembly that Khan had always shown strength and a resolve for the party which perhaps others could not understand. “He played with danger and died working on the party’s directives,” he said, “The PPP has lost an active worker today. It is a day of tragedies.”
Khan, 44, had a long history of loyalty to the PPP. He joined the PPP’s student wing Peoples Student Federation (PSF) in the 1980s.
After a head start with student politics, he jumped into the mainstream and was considered one of the party’s most reliable members in Lyari, a traditional stronghold.
While his family was originally from the Rikhi village on the Mianwali-Rawalpindi road, his father Sher Ahmed Niazi moved to Karachi with his family and settled in Mira Naka, Lyari.
Malik studied at the Nasra School in Depot Lines and went on to get MBA and LLB degrees.
He was nominated as the deputy mayor for Lyari Town and had a resounding victory in 2001. After completing his term, he ran for Lyari Town mayor in 2005. He lost the election.
The police also filed charges against him after the riots in the city in the aftermath of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Khan had applied for an MPA ticket from Lyari in 2008, but the PPP nominated Rafique Engineer, and asked Khan to wait. He never had a chance to contest an election.
After the 2008 general elections, Khan busied himself in his business of transporting goods and was active in community work.
The PPP elected Khan as the president of the City area (PS-111) in 2004, which he served as until his death.
While his father said they had no personal enmity, he suspected that people involved in criminal activities in Lyari might have killed his son.
“He initially sustained a bullet in the leg, but later the murderers shot him at point blank range in the head and chest,” he said. A senior PPP worker said that differences between Malik and other PPP activists had emerged over the issue of the target killings of Peoples Amn Committee workers last Ramazan.
The police surgeon said Khan was pronounced dead when he reached the hospital. DIG Shaukat Ali Shah said that it was too early to know who was behind the murder.
Wasim Aftab from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Coordination Committee offered condolences for Khan’s death to PPP Karachi Division head Senator Syed Faisal Raza Abidi and PPP leader Waqar Mehdi. According to the PPP’s Taimur Shah, Khan was a respected man in Lyari and that no one had a reason to kill him. Khan is mourned by his two wives and five children.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713893627-4/Shredded-10,000-yen-bill-(1)1713893627-4-270x192.webp)
1713889672-1/Plastic-waste-(2)1713889672-1-270x192.webp)
Malik Muhammad khan Shaheed was my very close friend and close relative. He always lived his life for a cause. He was a un-conditioned supporter of PPP. He never get excited when supporting his views about his party, was always humble, gental and respect others. PPP always had great workers and he was the best among them. He was short listed for senator recently but could not get in. I request all readers to please pray for him and he may rest in peace and paradise. A day earlier I visited his house, his old patents are in shock. Just to correct the facts about him in this colum, he was from KALRI village and his father name is MALIK HAJI SHER, and Shaheed Khan first wife was killed in an accident in 1994, than he married again.
So tragic, unfortunate May Allah rest his soul in peace. Ameen
I have known the late Malik M Khan personally. A very humble person and a well educated, suave person. PPP, Lyari and Karachi has lost an honorable son. May Allah rest his soul in peace. Amen
Innocent? haha, not even close.
what about those innocent people who are not from any political party die on a daily basis . what about their families ?
I am from lyari and I know this gentleman very much. A very caring and honest person. He was the one who raised voice against gangsters like Uzair s/o faiz Mohammad alias faiz chars walla, Noor Mohammad alias baba ladla , Abdul jabbar alias jaingo, taj Mohammad alias taju, rashid alias rekha, sheeraz alias comrade, rashid alias chichi etc. He was the man behind building medical university in lyari. He was considered and regarded himself as a Baloch than mianwali. I am very disapointed today from this state where terrorists like hafiz saeed, Malik ishaq, talibans are free to roam and conduct public gatherings but dedicated and educated people have fate like Malik Mohammad khan and Saba dashtiyari.
@Rashid: "We know who is behind the murder,” said Gabol. Do you know who is he talking abt?? A banned committee of PPP run and supported by ex-home Minister..
Aman Committee in action
Deeply sorrowed by the innocent death. :(
A tragic event indeed. Educated and dedicated political activists are hard to come by. Khan was both. The article contains much useful information but is confusing at times. It states that PPP workers said that they know who did it. Well, if they "know who did it," then why not elaborate a little. People in general are so confused about Karachi's violence and media is not a big help to resolve this. Khan's father says that he had no personal enmity with anyone, a frequent cause of killings in the Pashtoon community. It's clearly a political murder and it is important for the public to know Lyari's political dynamics to understand who committed it.
The story of sacrifices of PPP is long. But some part of media has done great war against PPP and is only using words of corruption and no other word. Zardari was appreciated the day he announced impeachment of Musharraf but then dramaticall he became corrupt when he decided to be elected as president of Pakistan. Very strange behaviour of the people and especially media. This is propaganda of ansaar abbasi and PMLn. Keep up the only federal party of Pakistan