KARACHI: There was no respite from targeted killings and sectarian slayings in Karachi on Sunday and 11 more people, including a man and his two sons, a son of a slain intelligence officer and a witness in a reporter’s murder case, were gunned down by terrorists.
Seven people were injured in a clash between activists of the Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and participants of a funeral near the Edhi morgue. A reporter of a television channel was among the injured.
On Saturday, 20 people had fallen victim to what police described as sectarian killings.
A ban on pillion riding appears to have backfired because since its imposition there has been a sudden surge in bloodshed and most of the killings have been carried out by pillion riders, a police officer admitted.
The Coordination Committee of Muttahida Qaumi Movement condemned killings of innocent people belonging to the Sunni and Shia sects and appealed to scholars of both sides not to give up patience.
The Karachi chief of the ASWJ, Maulana Aurengzeb Farooqui, said the government had failed in the city. The killings, he said, were part of an international conspiracy. He was talking to reporters after the funeral of an ASWJ worker in Nazimabad.
The Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) called upon President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM chief Altaf Hussain to immediately remove Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad.
The MWM said in a statement that Dr Ibad had contacted the head of the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba. “The Governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad, conversed with Ahmed Ludhianvi on Saturday night following which many innocent Shia Muslims have been killed in targeted attacks,” the statement said.
At least three people were gunned down late on Sunday night.
Police said a young man, Haider Ali alias Saleem, was killed by some people who had barged into his house in Soldier Bazaar area.
“The suspects brought a box of sweets to the victim’s house. When his wife opened the door they barged in and shot Ali twice in the head,” DSP Qaiser Ali Shah said.
Haider Ali was said to be the last witness alive in the murder case of reporter Wali Khan Babar.
Mukhtar Zaidi, 26, was gunned down by men on a motorcycle near the Martin Quarters Imambargah. The body was taken to a private hospital and then to the Imambargah.
Another young man sitting in a restaurant was killed in Sohrab Goth area.
Earlier in the day, Zarrar Hussain, 50, and his sons Sajjad Hussain, 28, and Imdad Hussain, 24, were killed when four men on two motorcycles opened fire at their wheel balancing shop in Orangi Town, near Islam Chowk. A boy working at the place, Farhan, was injured.
Two accomplices of the attackers were giving cover to them, said Station House Officer of Pakistan Bazaar, Ghulam Nabi Afridi, who was suspended after the incident. “They used 9mm pistol and police found 11 spent bullet casings at the place,” the SHO said.
Police quoted sources in the victims’ family as saying that Mohammad Ali, a nephew of Zarrar, also worked with him but he had not come in the morning because he woke up late.
The incident sparked tension in the area and all shops and markets were closed and local people chanting slogans against the government took to the streets.
The bodies were taken from hospital to Imambargah Shah-i-Karbala in Rizvia Society.
Some enraged people set fire to a minibus near Rizvia Society.
Asad Raza, son of an Intelligence Bureau officer who himself had been killed three months ago, was gunned down along with his two friends in Liaquatabad late on Saturday night.
Police said the incident took place in C-1 Area near the Sharifabad ACLC office when a group of friends were holding a barbeque party. Men on a motorcycle opened fire at the youngsters, all in their mid-20s.
Mohammad Umair died on the spot and Asad and Wajahat died in the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Two other men, Zufiqar and Danish, were injured.
Asad’s father, IB Deputy Director Syed Qamar Raza Naqvi, had been shot dead on July 6 in front of his home at the same place.
In Pirabad area near Banaras Bridge, Imran Khan, 45, was shot dead at his grocery shop, also by men on a motorcycle. Police quoted family sources as saying that the victim didn’t have any enmity but was a supporter of the Awami National Party. He was a resident of Qasba Colony and father of three.
Amin Jamal, 30, a labourer, was killed outside his house near Khyber Chowk in Baldia Town.
The bullet-riddled body of a man was found near a jewellery market in Kharadar in the early hours of Sunday.
CLASH: At least seven people, among them TV reporter Zilay Haider, were injured when two groups traded gunfire near Edhi morgue in the afternoon.
Police said the clash was triggered by firing on ASWJ workers who had gone to the morgue to collect the body of Irfan Jamshed who had been killed in North Nazimabad on Saturday night.
ASWJ workers Mufti Shahid and Qari Hamza were injured.
Meanwhile, when the funeral procession of Syed Asad Raza Naqvi was passing through the area while going towards Sohrab Goth on its way to the Wadi-i-Hussain graveyard, it came under attack, resulting in an exchange of fire between the two sides.
Heavy police reinforcement along with Rangers reached the place.