IB inspector, ASWJ supporters among eight gunned down

KARACHI:

On Saturday, eight people, including an inspector of the Intelligence Bureau, two brothers and a woman, were shot dead in the city.

The inspector was identified as Syed Qamar Raza, 50, and was gunned down in Liaquatabad, said the Sharifabad police. DSP Wajahat Hussain said that two men in their late 20s were standing outside his house when he came back from his routine walk. He added that the suspects used a 9mm pistol and shot him five times. Raza was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Saad, 30, his older brother Hamza,35, and their friend 22-year-old Waqas were gunned down by unidentified men in Surjani Town while 18-year-old Talha was injured.

They were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The police claimed that the brothers were affiliated with the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), formerly known as the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. As the ASWJ supporters started to protest, Waqas’s mother and another man were injured in firing outside the hospital.

According to SHO Shabbir Hussain, the brothers and their friend were sitting at their shop when four men on two motorcycles opened fire at them. As news of the killings spread, tension gripped Surjani Town and Rangers had to be called in to control the situation. The party’s central leader Maulana Aurangzaib Farooqi claimed that people were being targeted on sectarian basis to disrupt the peace in the city.

In an unrelated incident, 40-year-old Amir was shot dead in Korangi, said the Zaman Town police. They claimed that Amir was affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

A man identified as 35-year-old Muslim Khan was gunned down by unidentified men in a bus, said the Liaquatabad police. Twenty-nine-year-old Madad Ali was killed in Mughal Hazara Goth, said the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police. A 30-year-old woman identified as Mumtaz Begum was shot dead near NIPA Chowrangi. The body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2012.