Pakistani mourners gather around the bodies of the MWM leader and his guard at a mortuary. PHOTO:AFP
Based on their initial investigation, police believe that most of the killings were a result of sectarian violence.
MWM leader gunned down
A Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) leader was shot dead along with his security guard-cum-driver in a brazen incident of target killing in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Tuesday.
MWM’s deputy secretary general, Maulana Dedar Ali Jalbani, was on his way to the MWM office in Ancholi Society along with his security guard-cum-driver Sarfaraz Ali, from his residence in Ayub Goth when armed motorcyclists intercepted his car and opened fire.
The MWM leader and his guard were shot multiple times and died on the spot. Their bodies were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsy and later were shifted to Ancholi Society.
Following the incident, various parts of the city - particularly Shia-dominated neighbourhoods - such as Ancholi Society, Rizvia Society, Ayub Goth, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Jaffer Tayar Society in Malir, M.A. Jinnah Road and Abbas Town saw commercial activities come to a halt as unidentified armed men resorted to indiscriminate firing in reaction to the killings.
In response to the attack, MWM announced three days of mourning. They also appealed to the public to remain calm and demanded that the government and law enforcement agencies arrest the culprits.
Tableeghi Jamaat members shot dead
Three members of the Tableeghi Jamaat were shot dead and two others injured in a targeted killing in North Nazimabad on Tuesday.
Three armed riders on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate firing at the individuals shortly after they walked out of the Madni Masjid in Block-I following a ‘dars’ in the mosque.
The Superintendent of Police further said that a 9mm pistol was used in the assassination, and police have collected 10 empty shells from the crime scene.
Two people were injured in the attack.
A scout of the Payam-e-Wilayat, Syed Zakir Hussain, was also shot dead near Singer Chowrangi.
Sakhi Hasan attack
Five more people were killed from firing at a black-coloured-SUV near Sakhi Hasan Roundabout in North Nazimabad, Karachi. According to initial reports, the attackers were on motorcycles.
The bodies were transferred to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. One of the victims was identified as a businessman from Manghopir.
DSP Iftikhar Lodhi told The Express Tribune that police have collected the empty shells of the Kalashnikovs used in the assassination.
Correction: Previously, the story erroneously described slain Professor Azfar Rizvi as a Shia. The errors is regretted and a correction has been made.
COMMENTS (84)
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@Rambo: you may try your worst but these juloses are not going to stop.
@Ahmed Ali Khan - "India is not at war with the terrorists but Pakistan is. I hope you get the point."
Well if Pakistan is at war, then everybody (not just minorities) should confine themselves to their worship places. In fact religion (based on which Pakistan) was founded is causing this trouble and India is doing fine for doing the opposite. Hope you get the point.
@Hidden truth: Nd by killng brtaly u have provided a reson to get attked ....
Oh so sad. But y all shea people are blaming media? I apreciate media that they dun tel who has done ths. V knw s.s.p has done. But if ths media tels openly then aftr r.pindi incidnt whre mre than 50 suni were kiled brutaly if media has shown that al i thnk aftr the incidnt with in 24 hours al sheyas hve been eliminated. Media gud work.. Where were u al when that incidnt hapnd.nd hw culd u say sheya julus are peace ful aftr carng khanjers nd have pistols nd ak47s.
Please explain to me & other concerned Americans that offer our heartfelt condolences to the victims families knowing that this violence happens due to your religious advent why do the security forces of KARACHI don't declare MARTIAL LAWit might create inconvenience to the local population but that is the price one pays to live in the killing fields.
This is extremely sad incident. The preachers of Islam were doing a good job and had come rrom Morrocco. The killers should be immediately arrested and should be given exemplary punishment including death sentence. This should be done in public.
What about the three members of the Tableegi Jamat who were also killed. No mention of it. It is speculated that they were foreigners.
@Anshuman Tripathy: I agree with you
@powvow:
India is not at war with the terrorists but Pakistan is. I hope you get the point.
If you have a belief in which a particular form of killing is allowed and appreciated then it becomes very easy to shape any act to that form. At its extreme every one is "wazib-ul-qatl" in someone else's eyes.
@Ali Zaid: i support you sir.. 100% correct..!!!
The police is only collecting empty shells, no investigation or action whatsoever !!
@Chotta Bhai:
Your comments highlights the hypocrisy and confused narrative. In your first comment you make the ridiculous prejudiced religious nationalist claim that its a foreign conspiracy and we shouldn't be divided by evil enemy designs, etc.
And then in the very next comment gripe about your own sectarian denial, unease and biased privilege about reporting on how majority Sunni victims are not reported, when they actually are, but aren't as common sectarian victims as their Shia minority counterparts who are targeted disproportionately by Wahhabi/Salafi/Deoband/Sunni extremist militants, who also do target other Sunnis, just not on a purely sectarian motive. Unfortunate.
@Pakistani:
Don't blame the media for reflecting what is a common reality about sectarian target killings, apart from sectarian and overall terrorism. The difference is that an average Shia murder victim is more likely to have been targeted on a sectarian basis by Sunni extremists (among other anti-state activities in their portfolio) engaged in a long time sectarian cleansing process against random Shias, particularly intellectuals, as compared to an average Sunni murder victim who is less likely to have gotten targeted on sectarian basis by Shia militants, who generally target other Sunni extremists, and perhaps even more likely to be targeted by other Sunni extremists instead. And criminal incidents such as the Rawalpindi fiasco does get reported, naming minority and majority victims and culprits.
Ethnic cleansing strategy timeline followed in Pakistan: Hindus>Christians>Balochis>Ahamdis>Muhajr>Hazaras>Shia
Pakistan is a failed state. It is unable to provide security to its citizen. It allows foreign agents/ operatives to roam around freely within its jurisdiction, it is also unable to protect its territories. Writ of the government is spotty at best with no law and order. Under these circumstances, the minorities (especially Shia and Ahmedi's) cannot sit back and be the collateral damage of Iran and Saudi proxy war. They should organize and arm themselves, they should create their own network of informants to keep a tab on these whabis and deobandes (remember most of them come from poor background and can easily be lured by money, that is what Saudi use to recruit them.....about time we flip the table). They should try to consolidate their neighborhood and protect their boundary, so inside they can live freely and have functioning society. Once you have these civilized zones established, they should reach out to the Sunnis and create a greater alliance to curb and unmask the Saudi backed Wahabi/Deobandi terror network from the society. Also while doing this they need to make sure they stay away from the Iranians and their influence, that mean no Mulanas or zakirs in leadership roles, this has to be led by intellectuals who are the best in their fields with the intention of keeping the safe zones secular. The fundamental idea is to show the society at large that prosperity cannot be achieved unless there is a separation of religion from the state. Although I am stating they should start out with Minorities especially Shias and Ahmedis, but I am not an advocate of exclusive society, I am recommending this as they need help right away. Once the safe zones are established they can easily be expanded to bring other factions of the society, eventually to a point where only the extremist and fringe elements are left behind.
MWM happens to be a political party hence the killing can not be solely attributed to sectarian dimension.
Intelligence agencies are responsible for bringing TTP, LeJ in Karachi who are not being targeted by the police and are responsible for the present mayhem.
@Rambo: Minority should act like a minority. They should practice their faith with in their worship places, not on roads in the shape of Jaloos. . Rambo ji, lets apply your logic everywhere else in the world, starting with India. Since Muslims are in minority here, we should ban any kind of Jalsa, Jaloos by them. Why stop there - how about banning Eid celebrations outside their houses... Let's ban the azaan too while we are at it Lets teach these minority Muslims their place in their own home country. . There's something to be said about religous freedom in a multi-ethnic country. If I still could not convince you about the fallacy of your viewpoint, I am afraid you are a lost cause.
Sincerely.
IK is mentioned because he generally favours and makes excuses for Wahhabi/Salafi/Deoband/Sunni extremism, which includes all Taliban, claiming it originates only due to US drones presence and passing it off as 'Pashtun nationalism', while ignoring every other terrorist act which has always existed pre-2001, or that extremists have diverse ethnic makeups and that there is no excuse for such mindless murder and terrorism but the conditional condemnations persist. While he may publicly condemn the likes of LeJ, he falls short on TTP, in fact even being accused of being a spokesperson, who have committed the same crimes, with joint operations and whose members are inter-linked and related ideologically.
@Fateh: Sir I am part of this 80% of Hanafi but am not a Deoband or Berelvi only. You forgot Sufis. I am a Naqshbandi Sufi, probably the only one which tolerates the main sects among the Muslims but we have more of an issue with Wahhabis than anyone really BUT we don't go around killing people for being Wahhabi now do we & we focus more on perfecting our selves. Just hoped more Muslims were like us.
Junnah was a man of foresight. He became a sunni muslim from islamia-shia after the creation of pakistan.
@Mumtaz.Rizvi:
Did IK said he was a drone pilot? Man have you taken your medicines ???
@Ali Zaid: innocent and peaceful??they killed so many Sunnis in responce...
It continues to remain baffling to me both as a Non-Pakistani and Non-Muslim that Pakistan, a country claimed to have been founded to provide a safe haven for the Muslims of the Indian Sub-Continent, sees such frequent incidents of violence pitting Muslim against Muslim. Having an incident targeting adherents of the (original?) sect of the founder of Pakistan, Mr. M.A.Jinnah trashes any notion of the safe haven concept. How can this be so? Why not just live and let live?
Next I wait to hear the oft repeated statement that there is no such thing as intra Muslim sectarian killings in Pakistan as it is inconceivable that a Muslim can kill another Muslim as Islam is the Religion of Peace where even killing one person is considered as killing all humanity making instances like these killings in Pakistani minds a RAW / Mossad / CIA perpetrated act by India / Israel / USA to malign Islam and Pakistan.
why were the tableeghi jamaat people killed? they have no political motives. they just talk of Islam deen without any politics. May Allah grant them Jannah.
@Jibran: Not sure of what wahabism you are talking of. The middle east (gulf) is peaceful. The trouble is in pakistan, so surely wahabism cannot be the cause.
Saudis (Arabs) and Persians (Iranians) open a new battlefield in Pakistan. This is going to spread. Mark my words. Lets refrain from this sectarian violence. I fear no one is going to listen to me. :(((((.
I request my Shia brothers to please stop demonstrating your believes on streets, to help gov't to control these elements.
The terrorists know exactly what they are doing; by keeping Karachi in chaos they can keep Pakistan in chaos. In these challenging times, we need solidarity against this common enemy who kills without any remorse. We condemn the senseless killings and send our condolences to the families of the Maulana Jalbani and his driver, who were killed in this attack. We also hope that the recent on-going security sweep in Karachi brings results in sustained peace in the city.
Abdul Quddus DET- United States Central Command
ET trying to spread sectarian hatred to fulfil its NYT masters wish, like it does in the Middle East
Pakistanis of all regions and religions are dying so stop suggesting its only shias and minority to spread negativity and hate. Pathetic one sided reporting.
If Sunnis of this forum think that its a conspiracy by CIA/WEST/INDIA and there really isn't a sunni shia issue in pakistan then they must speak out against Malik Ishaq and Ludhianvi of Pakistan. They are the ones declaring Shias Kafir and Wajib e qatl. Why are they afraid to speak out against these criminals. Once you do that we will stop calling it a genocide.
@Chotta Bhai: ET stop spreading hatred. I am a shia, my friends are sunnis, we don't have any sectarian differences like you try to report. Also, i have seen how sunnis are also getting killed like us, you dont identify them as sunni then. We all pakistanis are suffering due to lawlessness.
STOP spreading hate among us like the terrorists do
@Muslim: only relevant analysis of the problem on this page. Still we have people who cannot stop to believe that this is being done by the Talibans. Rather than looking at the facts they'll pick Imran Khan and blame him. This Shia Sunni clashes are manufactured. If you want prove then look at what is been going on in Middle East and Africa. Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Qatar and even Western Saudia Arabia. Every muslim country is suffering through this unfortunate episode of religious divide.
@Rambo - "Minority should act like a minority. They should practice their faith with in their worship places"
Please share this nugget of wisdom with your Sunni brothers in India as well.
i dont understand why are people trying to spread hatred here, the problem lies with law enforcement
In Saudi people do not like shia at all, hatred is 10000 times more than in pakistan! But does that mean that people go about killing shias in there ??? No, law is simple kill anyone and death penalty is yours.
Courts and law enforcement agencies are sleeping here so dont expect things to get better
Who cares, another person died who was making people fool using his religion. All these filthy mullahs should be killed who spread hatred. period. (shia mullah or sunni mullah)
@Rambo If Shias are minority, than stop living in Pakistan because Pakistan was founded by a Shia Athna'shri and it was funded by a Shia raja Mehmoodabad. We have invested our lives and money on this land, so it is our right to practice our faith the way we want it!
@MAK uninformed much? Maliki, sha'afi, hunbali and hanafi have the same aqeedah. They r not a different sect like shia. Also fyi 52% of the muslim world (some countries carved out of the Ottoman empire,all of the successor countries of the moghul empire and the central asian countries follow hanafi school of thought) there r no maliki shafis or hunbalis in Pakistan. there's 80% hanafi in the form of deobandi n barelvi. 5% wahabi/salafi/ahle hadith max. 15% shias yes .
Im not a musharraf supporter, but now i see how right he was in throwing out the Chief Injustice, shame on his quietness
@Rambo: Minority should act like a minority...
Thank you Rambo. You have problem with the centuries old Jaloos tradition in a country where all the extremists are given a free hand to do what ever they want to do. Your demand is nothing but a narrow minded Wahabi thinking.
@Helpless: @M: Pls stop creating these shia sunni divisions, at the end of the day all pakistanis are getting killed WHY? Chief Justice, Army, Police are allowing it
Its time we open our eyes and see the root causes of these crimes, it is the freedom given to criminals by the police and courts. Why are these terrorists not being given death penalty?? Why does the court release dreaded criminals who force witnesses to withdraw statements? Is the court that blind and stupid? Why doesn't ISI take these people down for national interests like the CIA does??
The corrupt courts are the no.1 terrorist
Lots of misconceptions here. Firstly, the killing of Sunnis is happening by their dear sunni brothers, the Taliban. There are no suicide squads of shias blowing up mosques.
Secondly, what happened in Rawalpindi was complete insanity. You do not hurl abuses at a religion whose followers who are marching past you in the thousands. Freedom of speech does not exist in this country and one should not think it does. You spout reason and you get killed, one should not expect a different reaction when you spout hatred.
I guess the only way for the ongoing shia genocide in Pakistan to come to a halt is if someone like Jinnah(a shia himself) steps up and demands a separate homeland for the shias & hazaras. The Ahmedis,balochis and christians will follow. A large number of Hindus have already been fleeing to India for the last 3 years. I'm sure they all will prosper in their new homelands if only they declare their states as secular and dont make the mistake of creating another religious theocracy. We all know very well what will happen if you create another Pakistan. The remaining sunnis in Pakistan will continue fighting with each other based on how much more / less of a Sunni each pakistani is and eventually only the Purest of the Pure will survive in the Land of the Pure.
@Rambo:
People with thinking like yours' are in minority.
@M: Now the LEJ and TTP have crept to ET. Guys this is an indication how deep rooted thesr self proclaimed righteous are.
@Awais. How can you say it was a Shia mob? That mob wasn't from Rawalpindi so it could be Salafi Taliban thugs doing the a killing, after all thats all they know anyway. This is a Shia genocide because Shias are being killed for their beliefs. When was the last time a Brelvi sunni or deobandi sunni was targeted like this? by a Shia? I don't think so. In fact more sunni scholers and awaam has been killed by the same takfiri terrorists.
I don't want people to cry when some of these terrorists get killed in retaliation.
There are more common elements between Shia and Sunni sects than the differences. This is an international agenda to divide, create hatred and incite violence between Shia and Sunni sects. Everyone now knew the hidden agenda and who are behind the killings of Shia and Sunni ulemas. This nefarious designs are going to fail here in Pakistan.
UN and International community must step in to stop the Shia Genocide in Pakistan.If not it will be repeat of East Pakistan and civil war will explode any moment
@Ali Zaid: Why did media report like: “Unidentified armed men targeted a mosque in rawalpindi….” Wasn’t it clear that outlawed banned terrorists of Sipah Muhammadi (aka Iranian Secret Agency), Rafizi etc target the peaceful and progressive Sunni Pakistanis?
@sunni: It is the extremist Wahabism which in the garb of Sunnism wants to create a rift in Pakistan. I'm outraged by the criminal activities of its followers, and categorically reject them. They have no association with Sunnism whatsoever. Islam is a religion of peace, and there is no place for these Kharijis within my faith.
The agenda is to pitch Shia's and Sunni's against each others, just like the CIA did in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon. Pakistan is one of the countries in their larger agenda. Now everyone knew about it and this is going to fail in Pakistan. The link below is a must read for everyone.
http://defence.pk/threads/provoking-mad-max-shia-sunni-civil-war-make-muslim-people-kill-each-other.254500/
@M, genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group", which are Shias and Ahmedis, and maybe many more minority communities in Pakistan. There is no "mass" killing of Sunnis in Pakistan, there is just overall killing of people because of really bad law and order conditions. The killing of Shias takes place under a specific doctrine that wants to end their existence- with a minority group, this is actually possible and is what is currently happening in Pakistan. If there are mob killings by Shias, they are purely reactionary (I'm not justifying them) because this is a community that can't even practice its religion in safety. Fathers, sons and entire families are shot and killed. The constitution demands freedom of religion, yet the people of Pakistan, as always, are the first to blame the victims.
I guess the only way for the ongoing shia genocide in Pakistan to come to a halt is if someone like Jinnah (a shia himself) steps up and demands a separate homeland for the shias & hazaras. The Ahmedis,balochis and christians will follow. A large number of Hindus have already been fleeing to India for the last 3 years. I'm sure they all will prosper in their new homelands if only they declare their states as secular and dont make the mistake of creating another religious theocracy. We all know very well what will happen if you create another Pakistan. The remaining sunnis in Pakistan will continue fighting each other based on how much more / less of a Sunni each pakistani is and eventually only the Purest of the Pure will survive in the Land of the Pure.
A Muslim scholar of a sect was also killed in the morning. ET plz dont add fuel to the fire. Its best not to report any sectrarian killing. The people know who carries out these target killings.Karachi has the most incompetant police and ranger force, instead of patrolling the localities, they are no where to be seen only to come into action to set up road blocks and cause chaos.
Innocent Shia.......... RIP...........
@Tabish Bilgrami: Stop inciting Shia-Sunni issue. 7 Sunnis were beaten to death in Rawalpindi by a Shia mob and no one propagated the Shia-Sunni divide like you are doing even though Pakistan is 80% Sunnis. The media and masses should refrain from reporting stories as sunni's killed and shia's killed or other people killed. Whenever an innocent civilian is killed it should be reported as such and let the Police decide the motive behind the killing. We pass judgement before the actual judgement and even take steps to counter our supposed beliefs without looking at the truth.
Anyway, sad incident and hopefully the justice will be served here or the hereafter!
Feel extremely sad to hear about Maulana Jalbani's target-killing. May Allah bestow him with the honour of Shahadat. @Rambo: Are Shias a minority group? Do you even know how many Shias there are in Pakistan. More than 15% of the Muslim population in Pakistan are Shias. That's not a minority figure by any standards. In fact, Shias are more in number, by individual comparison, than Deobandis, Wahhabis, Ahl-e-Hadees, Malikis, Shafais and Hunbalis in Pakistan.
Dear ET, Kindly correct your facts and report correctly. You need a brand new editorial board. Prof. Azfar Rizvi was not a Shia. If you have any doubts what so ever kindly refer back to all the news details dated b/w 1st June, 2013 to 5th June, 2013. His namaz e janaza was attended by around 10,000 people led by Maulana Taveer ul Haq Thanvi. Would very highly appreciate if you can look into the real facts behind all these killings. Regards,
I guess he deserved to die because of Rawalpindi attack? he and the countless others, the hazaras and every shia?
And its amazing the way the ENTIRE media..i,e, every single newspaper and news channel in pakistan is actively involved in hiding mass sunni genocide conducted by shias. I wish our country could be that efficient.
Shame on you and your lot!
Chief Justice is 100% responsible because he has not punished a single terrorist in the last decade.
How many Shias need to be killed before the Pakistan government and more importantly the public in general decide to do something about this massacre ? The mere fact that the public and various civil societies have yet to raise their voices is very discomforting. Remember if you fail to do something about an issue which you know in your heart of hearts to be wrong then you are tacitly giving approval for that action and for the continuity of such actions in the future. Surely folks, yesterday it was the other minorities (Christians), today it is the turn of the Shias and tomorrow it could be.....................I will leave the blanks for the LeJ and other outfits to fill
the real terrorists are those who do not punish these terrorists even when they are caught. They are the REAL ENEMIES of humans.
More than the terrorists, i blame the police, army and cheif justice for blessing them with freedom to kill while they sleep.
Only way to provide security to all citezens is to punish the killers. And punishing the killers should not require discussions and consensus. The only reason why there is endless discussions going on to 'do' or 'not to do' operation or to 'do' or 'not to do' peace talk is that the powers to be are either incapable or sympathetic towards killers or simply scared to take them on.
Otherwise it is as simple as investigate-arrest-prosecute-punish all within 8-12 weeks of time. We will have peace if we do this evenhandedly even for 10% of terrorism cases.
Professor Asfar Rizvi did not belong to shia sect and his namaze janaza was offered by Tanveer ul Haq Thanvi sahab. Case of mistaken identiity. However every innocent killing based on beliefs is condemnabale and punishable by any law (if there is any in Pakistan i.e)
The subversive activities are attributable to proxy war being fought in Pakistan. There is no real tension between Shias and Sunnis on public level.
Why is it that ET goes to great lengths to highlight the identity of the killer whenever it happens to be a person from the Shiite sect but never mentions the hundreds of Sunnis who are victims of such killings on a daily basis ? Can ET or any of the readers please inform the reasons for the bias in the reporting because frankly such one sided views is becoming discomforting to a long time ET reader like myself. Is ET picking winners over here ?
It is a western backed conspiracy to stir hatred among the various sects within Pakistan. Please do not fall victim to this western/zionist/hindu ploy. Pakistan will rise above all this and will give a fitting reply to all outside forces..
he will be stamped/ declared as pro USA / non islamic or something like that . Matter ends. Wait for another.
@Mumtaz.Rizvi what has Imran Khan to do with this?
Pathentic media, when shia dies, they actually name it but when sunni died, they say a group of men.
This is just soo sad... I hope the authorities catch the culprits and the people of pakistan realize that the terrorists have murdered this man to create a rift between the shias and sunnis...
What a shame!
Shia Genocide by Takfiris...... Munawar hassan, IK, Nawaz sharif are still negotiating with the killers of our national assets...... Now the Pakistan Govt is totally in the hand of Takfir Terrorists........ its time to awake Shia sunni muslims in Pakistan otherwise fire is fire, it can be reached at every one homes....
A sad incident once again.
Police and Rangers are failed to vanish target killers around the city... now only Allah will do it. inshaAllah
This is just so sad...
ohh im sure this man has been a drone pilot.right mr imran khan????
May Allah rest his soul in peace
Shia Genocide continues.......