Escalating violence: 11 people gunned down in Karachi within hours

Five men from Mohmand tribe lined up and executed.

KARACHI:

At least 11 people were shot dead in separate incidents of violence in Karachi Thursday evening, as the police struggled to cope with the situation despite heavy deployment in different locality.

The worst incident occurred in the Sohrab Goth neighbourhood where five men were lined up and executed in what the police believe could be a retaliation attack by extremists.

“It happened so fast. There were 20 of us in the compound when six men came on three bikes. They asked us about our tribe and made us stand in a line. Then they started firing,” said survivor Gul Amin Shah, whose young son Zahid Shah was among the dead.

All the victims had come to Karachi from Mohmand Agency and were residents of Quetta Town, located off the Super Highway. All of them belonged to the Mohmand tribe.

“The attackers were bearded and didn’t say much,” said another witness. “There was chaos. Most of us saved our lives by jumping into bushes. They used machine guns,” he added. Two of the injured are under treatment.

Police said the way men had been killed indicated involvement of Taliban sympathisers. However, it could not be immediately confirmed whether the deceased men were related to a government-backed militia raised against the Taliban in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

In another incident, two activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were killed in North Karachi in an attack the police said was carried out by gangsters who were facing resistance from the party’s office.

Abdul Ghani and Naeem Ahmed, both in their 20s, were shot multiple times after the PPP’s local office near Anda Morr came under attack, the police said.



The police said nine bullets were fired from 9mm pistols by four men who had come on two motorcycles.

“According to eyewitness accounts and other information gleaned from the area, the attackers were part of a gang which runs a narcotics ring in the nearby Pakhtunabad locality,” said SP Salman Hussain.

“Criminals don’t want any political influence in their area and especially dislike party offices because unlike residents political activists can challenge the criminals,” he added.

Earlier in the day, work at lower courts was suspended after a staff member was killed in a sectarian killing in the volatile city, which has been in grip of tit-for-tat murders for months.

Bashir Khan, a stenographer at the District and Sessions Judge Central’s court, was shot dead by two unidentified men who intercepted him near the Lucky Star intersection while he was on way to the city courts, police said.

“Two shooters, both wearing helmets, were on a bike. They pumped four bullets into Khan,” said DSP Zameer Abbasi. “We have already investigated different aspects and most probable motive seems to be sectarian.”

Khan, who was in his 50s, lived in the Jet Lines area of Karachi where he was associated with the mosque, he said. “But he was a peaceful man. His association went just as far as Tableegi rounds.”

Meanwhile, another man was killed within the jurisdiction of the Baghdadi police station. Quoting eyewitnesses, the police said the victim was dragged out of his car under ICI Bridge and shot dead.

In the Gulberg area, 30-year-old Azhar was killed by unidentified men. The case is being investigated. Separately, one Maulana Khurram was murdered at Balti Chowk.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2013.