KARACHI, Jan 20: An Iranian religious scholar was shot dead near his North Nazimabad residence on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses said Aga Shaikh Mohammad Sultani, 60, was returning home in his Suzuki Hi-roof (CB-0354) after offering Zuhrain prayer when he was intercepted by unidentified armed men near Dr Ziauddin Hospital, who were in a car. Other eyewitnesses said the assailants were on a motorbike. They fired at Aga Sultani at close range, killing him on the spot. The assailants then fled.
His funeral prayers were offered at Rizvia Imambargah in Gulbahar. His body will be flown to Tehran for burial. The funeral prayers were attended, among others, by officials of the Iranian consulate, President of the Tehrik-i-Jafaria Pakistan (TJP), Sindh, Allama Hasan Turabi, and government officers.
A spokesman for the police, when contacted, declined to provide any information about the incident. He said it might be an act of terrorism or an outcome of enmity.
Sources close to the bereaved family said Aga Sultani, resident of Block-B, North Nazimabad, was a known figure in the Shia community. He had migrated to Karachi from Iran in 1965. He had founded Madressa Jafaria near the roundabout of Purani Numaish and Madressa Darul Hikma in Nazimabad where he also taught.
Allama Turabi termed the murder an act of terrorism, and said the government had failed to apprehend the terrorists. He said Aga Sultani was not a member of any religious group.