Two killed, one injured in Gilgit shootings

Five killed, three injured so far in attacks following the Narab bus carnage.

GILGIT:

Two men including a policeman were killed and another was injured in shootings in the restive town of Gilgit on Saturday.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ali Sher said two motorcyclists shot dead a policeman, identified as Raja Shah Jamaluddin, and injured another after they were stopped for violating a recently imposed ban on movement of motorcycles. The incident occurred at around 5am near Rax Chowk. Police and other security agencies cordoned off the area but the assailants could not be arrested till the filing of this report. The injured policeman was taken to the District Headquarter Hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.

“This is a sheer act of terrorism which is not acceptable at any cost,” said Sher.

In the second incident, a local, identified as Karamat was fatally wounded in Baseen locality. He was taken to City Hospital Kashrite where he was pronounced dead.

Following the Naran bus carnage in which 19 people, mostly Shias, travelling from Rawalpindi to Gilgit-Baltistan were executed, at least five people have so  far been killed and three others injured in apparent reprisal attacks.

In a high-level law and order meeting held in Gilgit on Friday, government officials had decide against lifting the recently imposed ban on travelling on motorcycles.

Meanwhile, travellers remained stranded in Gilgit as public transport to and from the town remained suspended on the fifth day. An official of a private bus company told The Express Tribune that the bus service is expected to resume tomorrow.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2012.