Security: Lawyer gunned down just outside home

Police say motive appears to be land dispute.

LAHORE:

A High Court lawyer was gunned down in an ambush near his home here in Sector Z, DHA, on Wednesday morning.

Zainul Abideen Ghaffar left home for his office at around 8:40am. Six gunmen, lying in wait just a few houses away on the same street, emptied their magazines into Zain’s Suzuki Mehran and then rode away on motorbikes, according to a complaint filed with police by his brother Arif.

Arif said that he and other family members heard the gunfire shortly after Zain left. They rushed out the house to see what had happened and found Zain’s body drenched in blood. The young lawyer was taken to National Hospital, but died of his wounds on the way. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. A large police contingent took the body into custody and sent it to Jinnah Hospital for an autopsy.

Defence A SHO Sheikh Hammad told The Express Tribune that the motive for the killing appeared to have been a dispute over 300 kanals that the family owned in Gujranwala. He said Zain’s uncle had been murdered over the land some years ago and Zain had been the complainant in the case.

Hamza Butt, Waqas Butt, Hammad Butt, Fahad Sheikh and two unnamed men were nominated in the FIR registered for Zain’s murder.

Lawyers’ groups condemned the killing. “This incident shows how much the government has failed to provide security to its citizens,” said Abid Saqi, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. “After death threats and despite repeated requests to officers responsible for security, adequate steps have not been taken in this regard.”

The Lahore Bar Association demanded that the Punjab government make sure that the killers are quickly arrested and prosecuted. Prayers were held for the deceased lawyer at bars across the Punjab.

The Punjab Bar Council appealed to bar associations in Lahore to observe a boycott of court proceedings on Thursday in protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2013.