Brazen assault: Caretaker of shrine shot dead

Two others injured in attack orchestrated by gunmen on a motorcycle.

CHARSADDA: The caretaker of the shrine of Syed Mian Noor Bacha Baba in Prang, Charsadda was shot dead while two others were injured by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday morning.

Police official Sajjad Khan said caretaker Jauhar Ali Bacha was sitting inside the shrine with Sajjad Ali Bacha and Ghareeb Jan when the gunmen approached on a motorcycle and opened fire, killing Jauhar and injuring Sajjad and Ghareeb Jan. The injured were shifted to Peshawar in critical condition. Police have registered an FIR against unidentified assailants and an investigation is under way.



A former caretaker of the same shrine was also gunned down in March this year by unidentified men. Police said the deceased caretakers were Shia and that this could be the reason for them being targeted.

Targeted attacks on shrines and their caretakers are not an uncommon occurrence. Recently, the shrine of famous Sufi poet Rehman Baba was blown up.

Separately, 27-year-old Anwar Gul was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Marwandi area. Gul’s body was recovered from a farm in the locality.

Sectarian strife

Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen’s (MWM) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter is in favour of a military operation in Peshawar along the lines of the one under way in North Waziristan.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, MWM General Secretary Syed Muhammad Sibtain el-Husseini, Imamia Coordination Council leader Syed Ibrar Hussain Shah and Provincial Information Secretary Irshad Hussain Bangash strongly condemned the killing of Wajid Hassan Qazalbash.

A leader of the Shia community, Wajid Hassan Qazlbash, was shot dead by unidentified men in Peshawar on Tuesday in Dhaki Nalbandi near Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Unidentified gunmen opened fire, killing him on the spot.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2014.