Targeted for beliefs?: Two lives cut short by ‘na maloom afraad’

The two friends were going home after attending a majlis when they were shot dead.

KARACHI: The two friends, who were shot dead late on Sunday night, were laid to rest amid tears and sobs on Monday.

Deceased Mudabbir Hussain and Haider Ali were shot dead in an act of targeted killing near Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum when they were going home on their motorcycle. At least four assailants are believed to have carried out the attack.

Their funeral prayers, offered at Shah-e-Khurasan Imambargah, located at MA Jinnah Road, on Monday afternoon, were attended by large number of people. Participants of the funeral prayers also blocked the city’s main thoroughfare, MA Jinnah Road and staged a protest against the killings of their community members. A large contingent of law enforcers, including Rangers and police, were deployed at the site.

The protesters demanded of the law enforcers to arrest the culprits behind the killings . Meanwhile, Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan directed the provincial police chief, IGP Shahid Nadeem Baloch, to submit a report within a day.

Of the deceased, Mudabbir Hussain used to install sabeels while Ali was an employee of a private air line. The incident occurred when they were returning home after attending a majlis.

Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) condemned the attack and criticised the law enforcement agencies for the frequent targeted killings of their community members, terming it a failure on the part of the government. “The frequent killings, on sectarian basis, raise questions about the ongoing targeted operation in the metropolis,” MWM’s provincial deputy secretary general, Allama Sadiq Raza Taqvi, told The Express Tribune. “There would no more killings if the real culprits were arrested.”

Meanwhile, though police believe that the incident was likely motivated by sectarian issues, there was no breakthrough in the investigation. SHO Javed Sikander told The Express Tribune that the killings were part of the ongoing sectarian violence. He added that no case had been registered with the police yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2013.