Alleged killer of Mufti Shamzai nailed

KARACHI: The city police claim to have arrested a target killer allegedly involved in several high-profile murders, including the assassination of famous religious scholar Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai.

According to the police, Wasi Haider, who was arrested after a gunfight in the Federal B Industrial Area, has made a startling revelation during the preliminary interrogation. He has confessed to killing Mufti Shamzai in 2004 near Jamia Binoria, a famous Islamic seminary, in a targeted attack that had also left his driver, son and nephew injured.

Mufti Shamzai’s assassination had triggered violence across the metropolis as an angry mob had ransacked the Jamshed Quarters police station while setting fire to at least 20 vehicles, two banks and a petrol station. The rioters had also attacked the office of the Quaid-e-Azam Academy.

An official claimed that the alleged target killer has also confessed to murdering Jamia Binoria’s vice president Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, along with his colleague, Mufti Saleh, and a seminary student, Hassan Ali, on January 31, 2013.

Federal B Industrial Area SHO Naeem Khan told The Express Tribune that the alleged target killer also claimed to have killed Brigade police station SHO Inspector Nasirul Hassan and his security guard, Khurram Butt.

SHO Hassan had played a pivotal role in the operation against a political party in Karachi in 1990s. Two motorcyclists had ambushed him and his security guard when they were carrying out routine snap-checking in the city’s Lines Area.

“The accused has also confessed that he killed a Sindh High Court’s employee Bashir Ahmed and three scrap dealers, who had refused to pay extortion money. He has also confessed to killing workers of Muhajir Qaumi Movement and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan,” he said.

Naeem Khan said Wasi Haider arrived in Karachi from Hyderabad in 2002 and joined a political party in 2004.  “So far he has accepted involvement in more than a dozen cases of high-profile targeted killings while the police are also trying to trace and arrest his accomplices,” he said.

Police officials claim to have recovered a hand grenade and a pistol from his possession. A case against him has been registered while the suspect will be produced before a court today (Monday).

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th,  2015.