KARACHI, July 30: A senior defence ministry official and a prayer leader were gunned down by unidentified people in Karachi, in what police said were target killings.
A senior official of the Ministry of Defence was ambushed by three unidentified motorcyclists near his Nazimabad residence on Monday morning. His driver, however, miraculously escaped unhurt. It was the second target killing in the past four days. Earlier on July 26, the managing director of the Pakistan State Oil, Shaukat Raza Mirza, and his driver, were shot dead by two masked assailants in Clifton.
According to the witnesses and the police, soon after the Director of Research Laboratories, Ministry of Defence, Syed Zafar Hussain Zaidi, 59, left his residence 2H-11/9, Nazimabad No.2, in his official car, Suzuki Mehran (GP-3427), a motorcyclist intercepted it, forcing driver Safdar Hussain Shah to stop the car. As the car came to a halt some yards from his home, two armed men appeared and sprayed the rear seat with bullets. All the three assailants then escaped on the motorcycle.
Mr Zaidi was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital but he died before receiving any medical aid. Mr Zaidi, who is survived by a widow and three sons, was due to retire in January 2002. The hospital sources said Mr Zaidi had suffered four bullets and died instantly.
The chauffeur, Safdar Hussain, said he resided in Mehmoodabad and kept the official car with him. He daily came from his home to Nazimabad and took Mr Zaidi to his office. He said as usual he came to Mr Zaidi's home in the morning and rang the bell. Mr Zaidi came out of the house and sat in the car.
"As I accelerated, a motorcyclist suddenly appeared in front of the car forcing me to stop, hardly 100 yards from the residence. Two youths, who were probably standing at both sides of the road, came nearer to the car and opened fire at the rear seat where Mr Zaidi was sitting, and escaped. I was shocked as all had happened in no time. I saw Mr Zaidi was bleeding profusely and the rear seat had stained with blood. I alighted the car and shouted for help," Safdar said.
The SSP Central, Shaukat Hussain, told Dawn it was a target killing and apparently seemed to be sectarian-motivated in context of the killing of the PSO managing director a few days ago, but it would be clear after proper investigation. "We have prepared sketches of the killers with the cooperation of some witnesses as there were some other people who had witnessed the incident."
He said it had not been ascertained immediately whether the sketches resembled with the file photographs of any of the known criminals.
The funeral prayer of Mr Zafar Zaidi was held at Rizvia Imambargah mosque in Gulbahar, which was attended, among others, by government officials and Tehrik-i-Jaffaria Pakistan's provincial chief Allama Hasan Turabi. After the funeral prayer, the charged people raised slogans against the police and the administration accusing them of failing to provide security to the life and property of citizens. Later, Mr Zaidi was laid to rest at the Paposhnagar graveyard.
The shops and markets in Gulbahar and Nazimabad Chowrangi remained closed to mourn the death of Mr Zaidi and tension gripped the entire area. Heavy contingents of law-enforcement agencies were deployed in Nazimabad and Gulbahar to control the law and order situation. The police and Rangers started patrolling the area to keep a vigil on unscrupulous elements and ensure peace and tranquillity.
Jhangvi group says it is responsible
KARACHI, July 30 2001: The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the murder of PSO managing director Shaukat Mirza and the defence ministry official, Syed Zafar Hussain. In a joint press statement on Monday, chief of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Riaz Basra and Lashkar's divisional chief
, Lal Mohammed have claimed responsibility for both the killings.
They also warned that any government functionary resorting to abuse of power would face the same fate. "We had urged the President, General Pervez Musharraf, not to implement the death sentence awarded to Sheikh Haq Nawaz as it could prove harmful for the integrity of the country but the government went ahead with its plan to appease a neighbouring country," said the statement. They said they would not shun their struggle, come what may, added the statement.-NNI
Lahori declared proclaimed offender in murder case
KARACHI, Feb 19 2002: Judge of
Anti-terrorism Court (ATC III) for Karachi division,
Arshad Noor Khan, declared accused Muhammad Akram alias
Akram Lahori as proclaimed offender in a murder case on
Tuesday. The court completed the procedure under Sections
87 and 88 of CrPC and declared the accused as fugitive
from law.
The accused carries a cash prize for his arrest and was alleged to be a dreaded terrorist of the outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, involved in killings of a number of persons belonging to Shia sect. The ATC III was seized with the murder case of Syed Zafar Husain, a former superintendent in the ministry of defence and Capt (retd) Altaf Husain, a former engineer of KESC.