KARACHI: A prominent Shia scholar and two seminary heads were among the nine persons shot dead in separate incidents in the city apparently on sectarian grounds on Thursday, police asid.

The killings were carried out on the eve of ‘Anti-Taliban Day’ planned by different religious groups and political parties to be observed across the country.

The killings took place in the west and east zones of police, triggering tension in parts of the localities, officials and witnesses said.

Police said Allama Syed Taqi Hadi Naqvi was gunned down soon after he left his office in Nazimabad on Thursday afternoon.

North Nazimabad SHO Nawaz Gondal said as the religious scholar left the Board Office, where he worked, in a rickshaw to return home in Buffer Zone, four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted him near the KDA roundabout and fired at him from both sides. He was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), where doctors pronounced him dead.

The murder appeared to be connected with the ongoing targeted killings in the city, said the SHO. However, SSP Central Muqadas Haider said it was too early to ascertain the motive for the killing of the educationist.

Allama Naqvi was deputy director in the Sindh education department and director for vigilance in the board of secondary education. Tension prevailed on Shahrah-i-Pakistan, M.A. Jinnah Road and the National Highway at Malir, where protests were held against the killing.

Two seminary heads killed

A caretaker (Mohtamim) of a seminary was shot dead in Federal B Area in an attack on a vehicle in which pupils were being shifted.

Central SSP Muqadas Haider said as Mufti Jabir left his seminary and sat in a hi-roof, motorcyclists fired two shots, wounding Mufti Jabir and Qari Bilal, who was driving the vehicle. They were taken to the ASH, where doctors pronounced the Mufti dead.

Samanabad SHO Shaukat Raza said the Mufti was going to drop the children at their homes after teaching them at the seminary in Block-17 when he was targeted. The victim was the administrator of the seminary. The SHO said the dead belonged to the Deobandi school of thought.

Earlier on Thursday morning, the caretaker of a seminary was shot dead with his son in the Sachal area.

Police said Qari Ali Hasan, 55, and his son Manzoor Hasan, 28, and seminary cook Gul Hasan, 28, were standing outside the madressa located on Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Road, popularly known as Suparco road, when four suspects riding two motorbikes and wearing masks opened fire on them and fled.

The attack took place at around 8.45am and at the busy roundabout of Sachal. The wounded were taken to a private hospital, where doctors pronounced both the father and son dead while the cook was admitted for treatment.

“It was an act of targeted killing,” said DIG-East Munir Ahmed Shaikh. The victim belonged to the Deobandi school of thought.

The DIG said Sachal, Safoora, Mobina Town and University Road had recently experienced targeted killing of leaders and activists of both sects.

He said the double murder might be prompted by some construction activity adjacent to the seminary which was opposed by some people.

Sachal SHO Shaukat Ali Shah told Dawn that two shops were being built and a wall was erected on the footpath near the seminary. He said victim Qari Ali Hasan’s son Maqbool told the police investigators that around four days back an exchange of arguments had taken place over the construction but he did not identify the persons.

No autopsy of the bodies was conducted. Police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir said that relatives brought the bodies to the ASH after and insisted that the doctors fulfil the legal formalities in the ambulance, which they did not deem appropriate. Thus the relatives took away the bodies without any autopsy. The bodies were taken to a place in Khuzdar, Balochistan.

The killings sparked protests, forcing suspension of commercial and other activities in Sachal.

Two killed in Azizabad

Two men were shot dead on their way home from Madani mosque where they offered prayers on Thursday night.

According to Central SSP Muqadas Haider, the victims had come out of Madani mosque and were going to their homes in Gharibabad in a car when gunmen attacked and wounded them in Hussainabad. They were taken to the ASH, where doctors pronounced them dead.

They were identified as Aurangzeb Ahmed, 55, Abdul Wahid, 60.

Separately, in a Sharifabad area Faisal Umer, 35, was killed and Saad was wounded in an attack on their car.

Worker, mechanic killed

A factory worker was gunned down in a suspected sectarian attack in New Karachi on Thursday morning.

New Karachi SHO Chaudhry Afzal said that Hammad Raza, 30, was riding a motorcycle when he was attacked by armed motorcycle riders in New Karachi-3. He said the victim was on his way from his home in Surjani Town to work in the New Karachi Industrial Area when targeted. The body was shifted to the ASH.

He said the killing might have been be motivated by sectarianism.

Meanwhile, a mechanic was shot dead in a suspected sectarian attack in Jauharabad on Thursday night.

Police said Aslam Sangi, 35, was riding a motorcycle when gunmen on another motorcycle attacked him near the Water Pump roundabout. He was taken to the ASH, where he died during treatment.

The police said though the victim, a resident of F. B Area, Block-9, was Shia, the motive for the killing could be determined after a probe report.

Three-day mourning

Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leaders Maulana Baqar Zaidi, Maulana Ali Anwar and Allama Nisar Qalandari at a press conference announced three-day mourning over the assassination of Allama Prof Taqi Hadi Naqvi and five other Shias, including Prof Agha Mohammad Salman.

They condemned the murders saying that six Shias, including a religious scholar and an educationist, were murdered in Karachi within 72 hours. They said condolence congregations and protests would be held during the three-day mourning. They said Allama Taqi Hadi was a great educationist and scholar and a respected person among both Sunnis and Shias.

“The Sindh government, police and Rangers have failed to protect the life of law-biding citizens. Their incompetence and inaction has emboldened terrorists of banned outfits to deprive the nation of its highly educated sons,” they said.

The MWM leaders appealed to the people to observe Friday as ‘Anti-Taliban Day’.Meanwhile, Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal-Jamaat Pakistan’s central secretary information Allama Aurangzeb Farooqi said the continued killing of Sunni Ulema indicated the involvement of an ‘organised gang’, which reflected on the performance of the government as it had failed to take any concrete action to arrest the killers and stop such killings.