KARACHI, May 9: Unidentified assailants shot and wounded two men outside an eating house in Orangi Town, on Wednesday. Faizan Husain, aged 40, and Raza Husain, aged 45, were sitting at an eating house near a school in Husainabad when two armed men, riding on a motorcycle, opened fire on them and escaped.

Faizan suffered a bullet wound to his jaw, and Raza was hit by two bullets in the abdomen. Both were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital from where Faizan was referred to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Both the wounded men were stated to be in a critical condition.

Faizan was the finance secretary and Raza the general secretary of the Anjuman Ma'arfat-i-Iman, Orangi Town. Faizan was an employee of the DMC-West. Raza worked in a government technical college.

A senior police official told Dawn that the possibility of sectarian motive behind the incident could not be ruled out. However, there were some reports that Faizan had a quarrel with someone, and he had an argument with him, which suggested personal enmity to be the cause of the attack, he added.

He said the victims were not in a position to give statements and, according to the doctors, one of them, who had suffered bullet wounds to his abdomen, would be able to give a statement soon. "After statements, the situation would be clear and we will be in a better position to have a clue to the suspects," he added.

Allama Hasan Turabi, President of the Tehrik-i-Jaffaria Pakistan, termed the incident the result of sectarianism. He said police were trying to present it as a case of personal enmity, and alleged that some of the officials in police and the administration were patronizing those involved in sectarian violence.