Drive-by shootings: FC jawan, cops killed

Police unclear over motives.

KARACHI:

Nine people, including a Frontier Constabulary jawan and two policemen, were shot dead on Thursday in what has become a routine of killings in the city scarred by gang wars, sectarian and political conflicts.

Abdul Malik, the 25-year-old FC jawan, was sitting at a restaurant in Qasba Colony in Pirabad when he was shot by men who casually walked and opened fire, police said.

His friend Nazar Gul, 32, who is said to be an FC informer, was also killed. “Nothing could be said about the motive at this moment. We don’t know yet which one from the two was real target,” said SP Organi Zafar Iqbal.

Malik was affiliated with FC’s 73 Wing and was deputed to the violence-prone Katti Pahari area. He lived in the Pushtun-dominated Banaras locality.

In another incident two policemen were on routine patrol on their motorcycle near the Ahsanabad police post when they were attacked. Head constable Ali Ahsan, 45, and police official Akmal Bakhsh were hit by multiple bullets fired by four men on two motorcycles. Ahsan died on the spot while Bakhsh succumbed to injuries during at hospital.

The attackers left behind the motorcycle and took away the police’s rifle. DIG East Shahid Hayat said the way killings were carried out were similar to a firing attack on a police post in FB Area on Wednesday in which a policemen was killed.

Meanwhile, an activist of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who was shot at on September 26, succumbed to his wounds at a private hospital on Thursday. Police said that Owais alias Fazloo, the father of two children, was injured when he was attacked in Sector 7-A of Surjani Town.

A 35-year-old man was gunned down by armed motorcycle riders in the limits of Manghopir police station. Police said the deceased, later identified as Sakhawat alias Pappu, son of Munsif Khan, was a milkman by profession and a resident of Orangi Town No. 4.

The body of a man, identified as Anwarul Haq, was found in Shah Faisal Colony No. 2 within the limits of Shah Faisal police station. DSP Shakil Awan said that the cause of death could not yet be ascertained, however, it did not seem to be a unnatural death. His body was taken to Jinnah hospital.

In Nazimabad, unidentified assailants shot dead Mohammed Arshad, 40. The police said that he was shot in the neck and chest. The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. In Keamari, a man was killed in firing at the Fisheries market. A man died and another two were injured when a motorcycle and a car collided on Sharae Faisal. They were taken to Jinnah hospital.

In Manghopir, the police arrested a suspect, Ashiq, for his involvement in four murders and seized weapons from him on Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2012.