LAHORE, May 22: A young lawyer was allegedly shot dead by unidentified men in Z-Block of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Wednesday morning.

Defence-A police said the lawyer, Zain Ghaffar (25), was leaving his residence for his office by a car when armed motorcyclists sprayed the vehicle with bullets. The assailants fled the scene leaving Zain critically injured who died soon after.

The lawyer suffered five bullet wounds to his chest and head, the police said.

As per initial police investigation, Zain was a complainant in his uncle’s murder case lodged against some men of Gujranwala. His uncle was murdered in Gujranwala some six months ago over a dispute over 300-kanal piece of land with his rival, Hamza Butt, the police said.

Zain has been facing threats for pursuing the murder case, according to the police.

A police official said the Gujranwala police had already alerted the lawyer about a ‘possible’ armed attack and asked him to take precautionary measures. He said the broad daylight attack also caused panic in the vicinity.

The body was shifted to the city morgue for autopsy.

Strike call The Lahore Bar Association has announced that it will observe a strike on Thursday (today) to condemn murder of a lawyer, Zain Ghaffar.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association also condemned the murder and demanded arrest of the culprits.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, LHCBA president Abid Saqi said the government failed to protect the lawyers.

He said lawyers were victim of targeted killings and even lost lives during dacoities but authorities failed to arrest the accused.

Zain Ghaffar was leaving his DHA residence when unidentified motorcyclists shot him dead. — Staff Reporter