HYDERABAD, Jan 22: All markets, shops and commercial outlets in Hyderabad, Qasimabad and adjoining areas pulled down the shutters early as sectarian tension gripped the area after an activist of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) was shot dead on Tuesday.

Shops in Qasimabad, Nasim Nagar, Tilak Incline, Faqir ka Pir, Liaquat Colony and the foodgrain market were closed as soon as reports about the death of the activist spread and the entire area resounded with gunfire.

The victim, Adnan Sheikh, 25, sustained bullet wounds during a bout of aerial firing at a procession brought out by the ASWJ activists in protest against the burning of what it alleged the effigy of a religious figure “by some miscreants” in Chandio Goth, off Qasimabad Road.

The ASWJ activists made appeals to shopkeepers to pull down the shutters near Wadhon ka Pir.

The victim received bullet injuries in his neck and was taken to the Liaquat University Hospital, where he was kept in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, he died of his injuries shortly afterwards.

All commercial areas as well as neighbourhood shops in the vicinity closed early as word got around about the death.

All main thoroughfares and major streets saw traffic snarls for several hours.

Police picked up at least six ASWJ activists in Qasimabad.