KARACHI: In a second deadly attack on a member of the legal fraternity within a month in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on University Road, an advocate of the Sindh High Court and former joint secretary of the Karachi Bar Association was gunned down on Friday evening, according to police.

Syed Ameer Hyder Shah, 35, was sprayed with bullets near Hasan Square, while his assistant, Shahid Chandio, who accompanied him in his car, remained unhurt, said Gulshan SP Abid Qaimkhani.

The officer said the lawyer was driving back home from the City Courts when he was attacked by three suspects riding a motorcycle. He sustained seven gunshot wounds and was rushed to a nearby private hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival, the SP added.

As news of his death spread, the legal fraternity announced that lawyers across the province would boycott court proceedings on Saturday and Monday in protest against the killing.

The body was later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination, the police said.

They added that the victim, who resided near Mausmiyat Chowk, originally hailed from Khairpur district.

The officer said the police were investigating mainly two possible motives for the killing. Firstly, it could be linked to his professional work as the victim being a lawyer reportedly pleaded terrorism cases. SSP East Javed Jiskani said the lawyer had also pleaded some political and land grabbing cases in courts.

Secondly, he was a member of the Shia community and could have been targeted on sectarian grounds, the SP said.

A spokesperson of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen said: “It was a targeted killing case linked with sectarianism.”

He said Mr Shah was a brother of Rehman Shah, a former central president of the Imamia Students Organisation. He had also remained principal of a law college in Malir, the spokesperson added.

Footage of attack

According to the SSP East, the police investigators managed to obtain CCTV footage that clearly showed the firing incident, while the attackers had covered their faces with surgical masks. They used 0.9mm and 30-bore pistols. The investigators collected eight spent bullet casings from the crime scene.

Some eyewitnesses had also confirmed the registration number of the motorcycle that was being verified, the officer said.

Earlier on August 2, Advocate Ashfaq Qaimkhani was gunned down in an armed attack on his car on University Road near Safari Park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. At that time, the police investigators had attributed the killing to his pleading of cases belonging to a known builder in the city.

Two-day boycott of courts across Sindh

The legal fraternity announced a two-day province-wide boycott of court proceedings in protest against the lawyer’s killing.

According to the Karachi Bar Association, which gave the call for courts boycott for Saturday, the victim had served as KBA’s joint secretary last year.

He was the fourth lawyer falling prey to targeted killings this year in Karachi.

The Malir Bar Association also endorsed the KBA’s protest call.

Later, the Sindh Bar Council — an apex lawyers’ body at provincial level — announced that lawyers across the province would observe a boycott of courts on Saturday and Monday against the murder.

Special investigation team

Meanwhile, Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali constituted a special investigation team, led by the Additional IG Karachi, to probe the murder of Advocate Shah.

The DIG counter-terrorism department, DIG East, SSP East and SSP East Investigation are members of the team.

The police chief issued a directive to the team to immediately start the investigation and submit a preliminary report within 24 hours.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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