KARACHI, Oct 1: In a surprising development, police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for his alleged involvement in the murder of a senior lawyer in the city last week.

According to Additional Inspector General of Karachi Police Shahid Hayat, the detained suspect, Kazim Abbas Rizvi, had killed Advocate Naimat Ali Randhawa for pursuing the case of TV reporter Wali Khan Babar who had been killed in 2011.

The AIG said Advocate Randhawa’s murder was a “politically motivated targeted killing”.

Addressing a press conference at the Central Police Office, he said the suspect had confessed to having killed eight people, including the advocate.

Mr Hayat, who was accompanied by the Rangers sector commander and West Karachi DIG Javed Alam Odho, said the detained suspect belonged to MQM’s unit 178 and had been arrested during a joint action by police and Rangers on Monday night. An unlicensed 9mm pistol and bullets were found in his possession.

Mr Hayat said four other people were also involved in the killing and they were likely to be arrested soon.

Answering a question, the Karachi police chief said the ongoing targeted operation was against criminals irrespective of their political affiliation. He said police carried out targeted action whenever they received information about the presence of criminals in any area, be it Lyari, Sohrab Goth or Azizabad. He added that it would take time to clear ‘the chaos’ of 23 years.

Mr Randhawa, who was also a leader of the Sindh PML-N’s legal wing, was gunned down by men on motorcycles and his son was injured in Nazimabad on Thursday when they were returning home from office.

Wali Babar, who worked for Geo TV, was shot dead in January 2011 in Liaquatabad while he was returning home from duty.

Several witnesses in the journalist’s murder case have been killed and the fact has also attracted attention of the superior judiciary.

Earlier in the morning, the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, raided an office of a ‘political party’ in Landhi and detained two alleged target killers, seized CCTVs and ‘highly prohibited’ Indian weapons.