Businessmen targeted in Tuesday’s killings

A Shia businessman was killed in the Hayat Chamber within the limits of the Ferozabad police station, Karachi.

KARACHI: A Shia businessman was killed in the Hayat Chamber within the limits of the Ferozabad police station on Tuesday. Mirza Abid Shirazi, 54, was shot dead allegedly by a man on a motorcycle, after the victim parked his car in the chamber.

“A motorcyclist shot Sherazi when he arrived at the chamber in his car,” Station House Officer Rao Zaheer told The Express Tribune.

The attacker managed to escape while Shirazi was taken to Agha Khan Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The police said that the businessman had sustained four bullet wounds, out of which the one aimed at his head proved fatal. A nine-millimetre pistol was used in the attack, officials added after they found four bullet shells from the scene of the crime. Shirazi was a resident of Mohammad Ali Society and the father of three children. He was also the owner of a company named Concrete Technology, and the brother of a trustee of the Aza Khana Zehra Imambargah in Soldier Bazaar.

Jafaria Alliance Pakistan chief Allama Abbas Komaili condemned the incident and demanded that the government must arrest the people involved in such target killings. He also held the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi responsible for the murders of people from the Shia community.

However, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat spokesman Qari Ihsanullah rebuffed these allegations, claiming that their organisation had been targeted as well.

“One of our members was shot dead in Nazimabad,” said Ihsanullah, referring to the murder of a man, identified as Muzaffar, who was gunned down outside his house in Bilal Colony, New Karachi on Sunday.

Another businessman killed, man injured

Fifty-year-old Mohammad Anwar Khan was killed and 30-year-old Mohammad Faiz Ishaq was injured when unidentified armed men opened fire at them in Nazimabad No.4. They were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

SHO Nazimabad inspector Jahanzaib said that Khan owned a factory in Mohammadi Manzil and was a resident of Nazimabad. He was standing outside his factory, talking to one of his workers, when the criminals opened fire at him.

Published in The Express Tribune August 11^th, 2010.