Target killing: Shia advocate gunned down

Zaheer Abbas was en route on a motorcycle along with his assistant.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN/ PESHAWAR: A Shia lawyer was gunned down by unidentified men in Pahripura on Monday morning.

The police said Advocate Syed Zaheer Abbas, a resident of Wadpaga, was on a motorcycle with his assistant Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah when two armed motorcyclists opened fire on them. The attackers escaped after the assault.

“They sprayed bullets at the two men, killing Zaheer Abbas, and leaving his assistant seriously injured,” said a police official. Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah was shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where his condition was said to be critical, he added.

“Both the advocate and his assistant belong to Shia families, which is why they have been attacked,” claimed the police official, adding that an FIR has been registered.

Since the start of 2013, a number of Shia doctors, students and traders have been killed in the city. Such target killings continue unabated despite repeated protests by the beleaguered community.

On January 19, Judge Ihtisham Ali was left seriously injured when motorcyclists attacked his car in Hayatabad. Dr Riaz Hussain, Dr Shahnawaz Akhunzada and trader Nawazish Ali were not fortunate enough to escape the respective attacks alive.



On March 3, Akbar Ali was gunned down in his shop in Kochi Bazaar while his friend, Muktar Hussain, was also injured. Ali died en route to the LRH. Hours later, the Imamia Coordination Council called a protest in which at least 200 people marched from Imambargah Adil Baig Kucha Risaldar towards Qissa Khwaani Bazaar. Aggrieved participants held a sit-in and placed the deceased’s body on the main thoroughfare.

Former policeman killed

A former police and FIA official, Malik Riaz, was gunned down in what appeared to be another sectarian attack in Paharpur area of Dera Ismail Khan.  An official of Paharpur police station said the incident took place on Monday afternoon when two unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire at the former FIA assistant director in Paharpur city. He said Riaz was standing outside his house when the assailants opened fire.

The official said he was a retired FIA official, but further details could not be confirmed about the motive behind his murder because no FIR had been registered till the filing of this report. “The incident seems to be a sectarian attack,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.