KARACHI: Police on Monday launched an investigation into the targeted killing of educationist Syed Khalid Raza, who was gunned down near his Gulistan-i-Jauhar home on Sunday night.

SSP-East (Investigation) Tariq Mastoi told Dawn that outlawed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) claimed responsibility for the attack by posting a message on its social media account.

He, however, said that investigators were looking into the claim.

The slain educationist was a former activist of Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba and also had ties with Al-Badr, the group involved in armed struggle in India-held Kashmir.

His funeral prayers were held near his residence in Gulistan-i-Jauhar. City chief of Jamaat-i-Islami Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, office-bearers of different associations of private schools and others attended his last rites.

Speaking on the occasion, Hafiz Naeem said that the killing was not an ‘ordinary incident’. He said that his party had always supported struggle of Kashmiri brethren.

He said that “foreign hostile agencies” could not do anything here without having local facilitators. He demanded that such facilitators be traced and eliminated.

“Khalid Raza’s murder is a test case for law enforcement agencies,” he said and demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2023