KARACHI, April 20: Three members of a family were gunned down in a Gulshan-i-Iqbal locality on Wednesday, police said.

They said those killed in the attack were identified as Basharat Hussain, his son Tahir Ali and his father-in-law Zawar Hussain. They were fruits and vegetable traders and doing business in Sabzi Mandi.

“Basharat Hussain left his residence along with his son and father-in-law in a car. When they reached near Aladdin Park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, four men on two motorbikes intercepted their vehicle,” said Aziz Bhatti SHO Inspector Irshad Ali.

“Two of the assailants got off their bikes and fired a volley of bullets at the car driven by Tahir Ali. The assailants escaped leaving the victims in a pool of blood in the car. Basharat and his father-in-law Shah Zawar died on the spot, while Tahir was shifted to a private hospital, where he also died.”

Victim Basharat Hussain was in his mid-50s, Shah Zawar in his late-sixties while Tahir was in his late-twenties, he added.

He said the police found several spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol from the crime-scene and some eyewitnesses told the police that the attackers took less than a minute in executing their job.

The bodies were handed over to the family after completing required medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Although victim Tahir Ali was the son-in-law of a slain religious leader, Allama Hasan Turabi, the police, on the basis of the statements of the victim's family, believed that the incident was an outcome of some old enmity over some property dispute.

“Only a thorough probe will lead to real facts,” said Gulshan-i-Iqbal SSP Umer Ahsan. “The family of the victims strongly suspected that their property dispute with one of Basharat's nephews could have led to such an incident. The two sides had also lodged several FIRs against each other in the recent past.”

But, he said a party or two claimed that the victims were targeted on sectarian grounds.

“The family denies that the victims were associated with any group. We will be able to ascertain the real motive after proper investigations.”

Meanwhile, chief of the Jaffria Alliance Pakistan Allama Abbas Kumaili condemned the killings and also questioned the role of the government as well as law-enforcement agencies.

“It shows the failure of the institutions and the political leadership,” he said. “Law and order in the entire country, mainly in Karachi, is a source of concern for every Pakistani, but it has not yet inspired the authorities to take decisive actions against terrorists.”

Meanwhile, Sohail Abidi, a senior leader of the Karachi division of the Pakistan People's Party, claimed that the victim, Bashrat, was a brother-in-law of a senior party activist, Amjad Khan, and had sympathies with the PPP.