Gunned down: Week starts with killing of seven people

A woman was found dead in her apartment, allegedly killed by her brother-in-law.

KARACHI:

Seven people were killed in the city while three men were injured in separate incidents across the city on Monday.

Thirty-four-year-old Syed Kashif Hussain Rizvi and Khwaja Bakshish Hussain Ansari, 55, were gunned down by unidentified motorcyclists near Qalandria Chowk within the limits of the Pirabad police station.

The police said that the incident took place in the morning when both the men were heading somewhere for work.

SHO Haq Nawaz said that the assailants were following Rizvi and Hussain and killed them on the spot. The SHO added that an investigation was being carried out.

Initial investigation suggests that they were killed on sectarian basis. Since the beginning of the month, police claim that around 60 people from both sects have been in killed separate incidents all over the city. So far the police have failed to make any arrests.

In Hussainabad, four men were injured when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at a bakery within the jurisdiction of the Azizabad police station. The injured were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Fida Hussain, 35, and Zeeshan Ali, 30, succumbed to their injuries during treatment. Akhtar Hussain and Mumtaz are still in the hospital.

According to sources, three of the men were from Gilgit-Baltistan, while Zeeshan was from Multan.

"All four of them used to work at the same bakery," said DSP Saleem Akhtar. "Four men parked their motorcycles outside and walked into the bakery and opened fire at them."

This is the second time the bakery has been targeted. In 2012, an employee identified as Zubair was killed inside the bakery. "We are not sure about the actual motive behind the series of attacks on the bakery," said the DSP. "We cannot rule out of the sectarian factor. We are investigating the case."

The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) condemned the killings and demanded that those responsible should be arrested. "People from the community are being targeted by militant outfits once again," said the MWM spokesperson while talking to The Express Tribune. "The authorities are not doing anything. The police are not taking this issue seriously."

The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat who lost one of their local leaders, Mufti Abdul Mannan, on Sunday, said that people were being targeted all over the city.

In an unrelated incident 48-year-old Taj Din was shot dead in Korangi Industrial Area. SHO Saadat Butt said that the deceased was travelling in a passenger van when unidentified armed motorcyclists killed him over a personal enmity.

In Marvi Goth, Abdul Hakeem, 24, was killed while 25-year-old Asghar was injured in firing within the jurisdiction of the Shah Latif police station. The police said that the incident took place over resisting a mugging.

A woman identified as 22-year-old Saima, wife of Ali Raza, was found dead at their apartment in Bin Qasim. The police said that the woman's brother-in-law, a man identified as Amanullah, was behind the murder.

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