Targeted killings?: MQM worker shot dead in front of son

Around five of the party’s workers have been killed since Wednesday night.

KARACHI: Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers were killed in separate incidents on Thursday, worsening the fragile law and order situation in the city.

A 32-year-old man, Muhammad Akram, was shot dead near Khalil Market in Orangi. He was dropping his son to school in the morning when two armed men intercepted his motorcycle and shot him in the chest. “Akram lost control of his vehicle and fell. The culprits walked over to him and shot him seven more times as his son watched on,” said a police official.

Akram belonged to MQM’s unit 124 in Orangi. The incident spread fear in Orangi town, where shops remained closed for the day.

In an unrelated incident, a 24-year-old man, identified as Mobin Aziz, was shot dead by men on a motorcycle. DSP Usman Bajwa said that Mobin was an MQM worker. The area where the killing occured is congested and interconnected with narrow lanes, making it easy for the culprits to escape, he said. As news of the killing spread, the area’s residents came out on the streets and resorted to aerial firing.

A MQM leader, Qamar Mansoor, confirmed that both men belonged to the party. He said attacks against the party’s activists have increased in recent days. “We have lost five workers since Wednesday night.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2012.