Last rites: Police remain clueless as Mufti Muhammad laid to rest

Mufti Muhammad was the secretary-general of the JUI-S Sindh chapter.

KARACHI:

Police investigators have failed to find any conclusive evidence that would help them investigate the targeted attack on a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq group, on Friday evening. 

The party’s secretary general for its Sindh chapter, Mufti Muhammad Usman Yar Khan, his personal security guard and his driver, were shot dead near Awami Markaz on main Sharae Faisal.

Mufti Muhammad was returning to his residence in Gulistan-e-Jauhar after attending a seminar in Saddar when their vehicle was intercepted by four assailants on two motorcycles. The assailants opened fire at their car and fled. Police found at least 16 empty shells and claimed to have sent them to the forensic division for testing.

The investigators claimed they were making headway into the investigation, however, sources privy to the matter told The Express Tribune that there was no breakthrough yet. “The government’s CCTV cameras installed at Sharae Faisal were not functioning,” said the source. “We also checked CCTV footage of the shops and bungalows in the vicinity but did not find any clue.”



District East SSP Pir Muhammad Shah confirmed that the the government’s CCTV cameras could not record any footage due to technical issues. He did, however, claimed that there were some developments into the case but they could not be shared with the media.

Meanwhile, the funeral prayers of Mufti Muhammad and his security guard were offered outside the Darul Khari Madrassah, of which he was the vice-principal. The funeral prayers were offered after Zuhr and they were later laid to rest at Gulistan-e-Jauhar graveyard.

Routine and commercial activities, especially in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, remained suspended for the better part of the day. Before the funeral prayers, unidentified persons also fired aerial shots and staged a protest near Safari Park and Sohrab Goth.

They pelted stones at passing vehicles and raised slogans against the incident, while demanding that the culprits be arrested

The police officials are still waiting for the complainants to register the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2014.