KARACHI: Renowned music composer, singer and actor Nadeem Jafri was mugged on Thursday morning in the Gulshan-i-Iqbal area.

As this was yet another incident involving a performing artist in the city within a week, the news spread like wildfire. It was reported first through social media and then by mainstream TV channels that he was shot-at and escaped miraculously. It was not true. Though there was an exchange of gunshots, no physical harm was done.

As soon as people got to know about it, all sorts of speculative tweets and messages went flying about. One showbiz person tweeted that Mr Jafri was shot multiple times but escaped miraculously. This sent shock waves across the showbiz community and Mr Jafri’s admirers. A little later, things became clearer as those who got in touch with him relayed the message that he was mugged and not injured.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Jafri said: “After Sehri I was sitting in a friend’s car, who’s an army officer, two, three rows from my home. A bike came and parked a couple of feet from us. There were two men riding it. One of them came to us. He cocked a TT pistol and pointed at us. First I thought he had come to shoot us, but then I realised it was an attempt to mug us. He grabbed quite a few things including cash and my mobile phone. During this time a scuffle broke out (mudd bher) between us, and my friend and I took out our weapons. We shot at them, they shot in return. The firing went on for some 40, 50 seconds, and the entire neighbourhood came out, but, ironically, the police mobile positioned in a corner did not budge from its place. We followed them in our car, but they [robbers] disappeared in the lanes. We even called 15, no one came.”

The incident has again reinforced what the artist community demanded in a video after Amjad Sabri’s murder on June 22. It also goes to show that Karachi is moving back to the times when the law and order situation was terrible.

However, the police said no firing incident took place.

According to the police, two gunmen looted artist and TV host Nadeem Jafri outside his home in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Thursday morning. He was standing outside his home in Block-3 along with his friend when two armed youths riding a motorcycle approached him. They snatched a mobile phone from him and fled, according to Gulshan SP Dr Fahad Ahmed.

The officer said that no firing incident took place nor any physical harm was caused to the artist.

The case has been registered on a complaint of the robbery victim and the police were investigating the case.

The Gulshan SP said that the artist was demanding provision of security but the local police advised him to approach the authorities concerned to this effect, as the relevant police security zone could provide him guards.

In a statement, the police spokesperson said the mobile snatching incident took place. But it had no sectarian motive, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016