Ambushed: ASWJ leader escapes ‘murder attempt’

Party’s Islamabad chapter president injured in gun attack; FIR registered

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen on Friday evening shot and injured Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Islamabad chapter president in Sector G-7.

Aabpara police registered a case against unidentified gunmen on Saturday.

Police said Ghulam Mustafa Baloch, the ASWJ office-bearer, and his brother Ghulam Mujtaba Baloch were coming to Rehmania mosque in Aabpara for Isha prayers in a car when they were attacked by two gunmen near Iqball Hall in Sector G-7. Mustafa was taken to Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) by the police, where he is said to be in a stable condition.

Mustafa was injured in the attack, while his brother escaped unharmed. ASWJ activists staged a protest at Aabpara Chowk after the incident.

The attackers fled before the Rangers or police could reach the scene.

The attack put a question mark on repeated police claims of increased patrolling. Government had started a joint police-Rangers patrolling in the capital soon after it took over in 2013.

Police suspect it was an attempt of targeted killing. Investigation, however, is under way.

This was the third attack on an ASWJ leader in Islamabad this year. On June 1, central ASWJ leader Maulana Muhammad Idrees Kashmiri was shot dead by two unknown gunmen in Sohan area.

Earlier in February, ASWJ Rawalpindi spokesperson Maulana Mazhar Siddiqui, was targeted in outskirts of Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2015.