KARACHI: A local worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) was shot dead by armed robbers in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Friday morning, police, relatives and the party said.

The police said that 27-year-old Noman Riaz was killed in Block-9 near Dubai House.

They said Noman had left his house to see off his maternal aunt at the airport. He was riding a motorcycle along with a friend when armed pillion riders instructed them to stop, ostensibly with the intention of committing a robbery.

As they did not stop the motorbike, the assailants opened fire on them and fled without any loot. Noman suffered critical bullet wounds and was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.

He was second among four siblings and an electrician by profession. The relatives said he had applied in the police department for the post of constable and had cleared the running test as well.

His funeral prayer was held near his residence in Block-2 and attended by the residents and MQM-P leaders.

They told the media that robberies had become a ‘routine’ in Gulistan-i-Jauhar as law enforcers had failed to curb crimes. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

The MQM-P in a statement said that the victim was the worker of Gulistan-i-Jauhar Town.

The party’s coordination committee while condemning the murder alleged that the youths of Karachi were being killed as Sindh government had failed to maintain law and order.

They said there was a question mark over performance of the police but Rangers had also been deployed in the metropolis for a long time and also took credit for restoring peace in the provincial capital but such incidents also put a question mark on their performance.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2024