Violence erupts as seminary teacher slain

Karachi

Ten people, including a seminary teacher, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation employees, political activists and policemen, were gunned down in the city, police said on Monday. In only the first three days of the ongoing month, 20 people have fallen prey to sectarian and political killings.

Forty-five-year-old Maulana Mohammad Ismail, a teacher at Madrassah Ahsanul Aloom in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, was attacked on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road near Al-Asif Square.

Sohrab Goth Sub-Divisional Police Officer Qamar Ahmed Sheikh said Ismail, a resident of Chapel Garden in Mobina Town, was heading towards the seminary in the morning, when two men riding a motorcycle intercepted his vehicle and shot him.

Ismail was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he breathed his last.

The victim suffered two bullet wounds to the head and neck. The police found 9mm pistol bullet shells at the crime scene.

Following the teacher’s murder, some men fired gunshots in the air on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road and its surroundings areas including Maskan Chowrangi, Gulshan Chowrangi and Sohrab Goth. They also forced shopkeepers to pull down the shutters. The other teachers of the seminary and students staged a protest and demanded the arrest of the murderers.

The violence that broke out after the Ismail’s killing lasted for more than two hours in these areas during which four vehicles including an ambulance of the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation were torched. Several other vehicles were pelted with stones. A wine shop was also attacked.

Additional contingents of police and Rangers were called to the disturbed localities to bring the situation under control.

Police investigators believed Ismail’s murder was a sectarian killing case. They added that the slain teacher was a supporter of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat.

They suspected that the people responsible for the murder were also involved in the killing of six students of the same seminary last month.

The teacher’s funeral prayer was offered at the seminary and his body was sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Taking notice of the incidents, the provincial police chief has directed the additional IGP Karachi to review the security measures in the zone where the murder took place and also sought an inquiry report.

According to a statement, IGP Fayyaz Leghari has ordered additional security for religious figures and other individuals whose lives are under threat. He has also directed enhanced police patrolling and snap checking as well as deployment of security personnel outside mosques, Imambargahs and Madrassahs.

Two KMC staffers killed

Two KMC employees were murdered near Sabri Chowk, Orangi Town.

Iqbal Market SHO Sabir Khan said 40-year-old Mehmood Alam Siddiqi, the deputy director of the city’s graveyards, and his friend, 35-year-old Jaseem, were heading towards their office in the morning in a van when two men riding a motorcycle sprayed them with bullets.

The two men were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Siddiqui was shot eight times while Jaseem suffered 10 bullet wounds. The SHO said the assailants had used 9mm pistols.

Police sleuths said Siddiqui, who resided in Block B of Saleemabad, Orangi Town, was the brother of a Pakistan Muslim League-Functional activist.

Two MQM men found dead

Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists were found shot dead near Ali Town, Sohrab Goth in the morning.

Sohrab Goth Sub-Divisional Police Officer Qamar Ahmed Sheikh said the bodies of Tayyab and Mehmoodul Hasan were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. He added the two men were residents of Rajput Colony, Mobina Town and kidnapped from the area on Sunday night.

Police investigators told The News that the two men were members of the MQM’s Muttahida Organising Committee.

Two cops murdered

A policeman was shot dead in Bilal Colony, Korangi. SHO Tariq Rahim said 40-year-old Sub-Inspector Hidayatullah Abbasi, the in-charge of the Korangi Industrial Area police station’s R-Chowki, had left home for work in the morning when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on his car.

Abbasi was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he expired. He was shot twice in the head. The SHO said the murder weapon was a 9mm pistol.

The slain policeman has left behind two widows and four children.

Another policeman was gunned down in the Madina Basti area of Frontier Colony, Peerabad.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Zahid Siddiqi said 32-year-old Constable Murad Khan was posted at the Peerabad police station and worked as an intelligence officer.

He was performing surveillance duties on his motorcycle at night when two men, also on a motorcycle, shot him.

The constable was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Khan suffered four bullet wounds to his chest. The police officer said a 9mm pistol was used to kill the constable.

Al-Asif Square

A supporter of a religious group was murdered near Al-Asif Square. Police said Ayub Khan, a resident of Kutchi Goth, Sohrab Goth, was shot by two men riding a motorcycle.

He was moved to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he expired.

Man killed in SITE

A man was killed in the SITE area. SITE-A SHO Rao Rafiq said 35-year-old Hazrat Usman had arrived in the city from Mingora in Swat district on Sunday to meet his uncle. He was leaving the Lucky Textile Mill in the evening after meeting his uncle when some distance away from the factory, two men opened fire on him.

Usman was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He suffered three bullet wounds to his upper torso. Police investigators said the murder appeared to be part of the ongoing target killing spate, but other angles would also be probed.

Posted in: Karachi News