JUI-F leader gunned down in Sukkur
Party announces country-wide strike today to protest against killing
SUKKUR/ISLAMABAD:
A top leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in Sindh, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, was gunned down in Sukkur in the early hours of Saturday while he was offering Fajr prayer in a mosque of his under-construction seminary. Dr Soomro was also a former member of the Senate.
Quoting eyewitnesses, SSP Sukkur Tanveer Hussain Tunio said two unidentified men armed with automatic weapons raided the mosque and opened fire at Soomro, who received severe injuries. The assailants, whose companions were waiting for them in a white car outside the mosque, managed to flee unchallenged.
Eyewitnesses said there were four men at the mosque, who
rushed Soomro to a private hospital, where doctors declared him dead. According to the doctors, Soomro received four bullets in the head and excess bleeding led to his death.
Later, his body was taken to Larkana, where he will be laid to rest near his house in Gulshan-e-Haqani situated on Dodai Road, according to his will.
As the news of his killing spread, JUI-F workers came out on the streets of cities and towns of Upper Sindh, forcing down the shutters of businesses and shops. Party activists also staged protests in different cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The JUI-F announced that it will block main roads across the country on November 30 [today] in protest against the killing of Dr Soomro. The roadblocks will come at a time when PTI is organising its decisive rally in Islamabad.
In Sukkur, the students of a big seminary – known as Madrassa Hamadia Manzil Gah –took to the streets. Workers staged protest demonstrations and rallies across the cities and towns, and blocked main roads.
In Jacobabad, hundreds of the JUI-F workers staged demonstrations and a sit-in at DC Chowk, which was also joined by Qaumi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palejo, who had reached the city for the Muhabbat-e-Sindh rally.
Born on May 7, 1959, in the house of Maulana Ali Mohammad Haqani, Soomro did his MBBS from Chandka Medical College Larkana in 1984 and later went to International University Islamabad, where he did ‘Aima Course’. He also attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Soomro joined JUI-F in 1988 and actively took part in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy, and was jailed for nine months.
In 2006, he was elected as senator and chaired various standing committees on Local Bodies, Health and Religious Affairs. Soomro was elected General Secretary of JUI-F Sindh chapter for eight consecutive years, and during this period he strongly opposed construction of the controversial Kalabagh Dam and the division of Sindh.
Soomro has left behind a widow, six sons and three daughters to mourn his death. He was scheduled to attend his youngest son Atta-ur-Rehman’s wedding on the same day, for which all the arrangements were finalised. His death is being seen as a great loss for Sindh province, as he was known for taking up the issues of the province more than the nationalists.
National leaders – including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, chief ministers of all the provinces and leaders of political parties have issued their condolence message condemning the killing of Soomro, who would be laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard near Larkana
JUI-F strike today
“There will be a protest today [Saturday] and on Sunday main roads will be blocked all across the countr,” the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman told a news conference in Islamabad. He also demanded that the killers be brought to justice.
“We are peaceful people and being punished for that,” he said. However, Fazl made it clear that his party workers would remain peaceful.
The JUI-F chief said it was the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens, a duty which it had failed to do. “The state should bring the killers to justice or hand them over to us,” he said, adding that his party could give sometime to the government to arrest of the killers.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2014.
A top leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in Sindh, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, was gunned down in Sukkur in the early hours of Saturday while he was offering Fajr prayer in a mosque of his under-construction seminary. Dr Soomro was also a former member of the Senate.
Quoting eyewitnesses, SSP Sukkur Tanveer Hussain Tunio said two unidentified men armed with automatic weapons raided the mosque and opened fire at Soomro, who received severe injuries. The assailants, whose companions were waiting for them in a white car outside the mosque, managed to flee unchallenged.
Eyewitnesses said there were four men at the mosque, who
rushed Soomro to a private hospital, where doctors declared him dead. According to the doctors, Soomro received four bullets in the head and excess bleeding led to his death.
Later, his body was taken to Larkana, where he will be laid to rest near his house in Gulshan-e-Haqani situated on Dodai Road, according to his will.
As the news of his killing spread, JUI-F workers came out on the streets of cities and towns of Upper Sindh, forcing down the shutters of businesses and shops. Party activists also staged protests in different cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The JUI-F announced that it will block main roads across the country on November 30 [today] in protest against the killing of Dr Soomro. The roadblocks will come at a time when PTI is organising its decisive rally in Islamabad.
In Sukkur, the students of a big seminary – known as Madrassa Hamadia Manzil Gah –took to the streets. Workers staged protest demonstrations and rallies across the cities and towns, and blocked main roads.
In Jacobabad, hundreds of the JUI-F workers staged demonstrations and a sit-in at DC Chowk, which was also joined by Qaumi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palejo, who had reached the city for the Muhabbat-e-Sindh rally.
Born on May 7, 1959, in the house of Maulana Ali Mohammad Haqani, Soomro did his MBBS from Chandka Medical College Larkana in 1984 and later went to International University Islamabad, where he did ‘Aima Course’. He also attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Soomro joined JUI-F in 1988 and actively took part in the Movement for Restoration of Democracy, and was jailed for nine months.
In 2006, he was elected as senator and chaired various standing committees on Local Bodies, Health and Religious Affairs. Soomro was elected General Secretary of JUI-F Sindh chapter for eight consecutive years, and during this period he strongly opposed construction of the controversial Kalabagh Dam and the division of Sindh.
Soomro has left behind a widow, six sons and three daughters to mourn his death. He was scheduled to attend his youngest son Atta-ur-Rehman’s wedding on the same day, for which all the arrangements were finalised. His death is being seen as a great loss for Sindh province, as he was known for taking up the issues of the province more than the nationalists.
National leaders – including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, chief ministers of all the provinces and leaders of political parties have issued their condolence message condemning the killing of Soomro, who would be laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard near Larkana
JUI-F strike today
“There will be a protest today [Saturday] and on Sunday main roads will be blocked all across the countr,” the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman told a news conference in Islamabad. He also demanded that the killers be brought to justice.
“We are peaceful people and being punished for that,” he said. However, Fazl made it clear that his party workers would remain peaceful.
The JUI-F chief said it was the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens, a duty which it had failed to do. “The state should bring the killers to justice or hand them over to us,” he said, adding that his party could give sometime to the government to arrest of the killers.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2014.