LAHORE, Feb 19: Police are groping in the dark in connection with the investigation of Monday’s killing of a senior eye surgeon and his 12-year-old son near the FC College.

Police have initially termed the recent killing sectarian and claim three more cases of similar nature.

Prof Dr Syed Ali Haider of Hali Road and his son Murtaza were shot dead by gunmen when they were going to Aitchison College by a car in the morning. The victims’ family belonging to Shia sect had declared the shooting a target killing and held the government responsible.

However, the police said an investigation with all possible lines was under way. A high-level meeting of senior police officers was also chaired by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Old Airport on Tuesday evening to review pace of investigation into four high-profile sectarian killings that took place in Lahore in the last few months.

A participant told Dawn that the chief minister on his return from Multan called an emergency meeting, got police feedback and ordered arrest of the culprits. He also ordered to launch prompt action against activists of sectarian organisations with past record and those who were recently released from different jails.

A police investigator confided to this reporter that police had picked nine people belonging to banned Sipa-i-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi for interrogation and were working on six city gangs having history of sectarian terrorism.

He said two cases of murder in which members of Shia community were involved in 2012 were initially linked to sectarian killings, but police investigations established the motives for killings were personal enmity. Jawad Naqvi was killed by his rivals in South Cantonment while Mian Asif was murdered by his opponents in Tipu Tarakkanwala case in Tibbi City.

The official said only one case, in which a tailor identified as Tanveer Shahzad was shot dead in Old Anarkali last year, led to the arrest of three accused from Toba Tek Singh who killed the victim for being a Shia.

Another investigator said police had prepared sketches of two suspects with the help of a couple of witnesses and also arranged cell phone data of slain Dr Haider. He said police were also examining a CCTV footage which showed the victim’s car on Zahoor Elahi Road.

He said police also seized empties of AK-47 assault rifle from the spot.

A police source said some officers held a meeting on Monday evening to establish possible link of the recent killing with three similar incidents occurred in recent past.

He said police were treating the killings of lawyer Syed Shakir Ali Rizvi in Old Anarkali (Oct 2012) and bank manager Waqar Husain Shah in Garden Town (Feb 2013) and gun attack on lawyer Masood Abid Naqvi in Mozang (Dec 2012) as sectarian as the three cases were not yet traced.