LAHORE July 30 2001: Imam Masjid Syed
Rizwanul Hassan, 40, was shot dead by two unidentified
young men at his bookshop in Kharak main bazaar, on the
busy Multan Road, witnesses said. The only motive behind
this killing seemed to be sectarian, however,
investigations were under way on other possible options
also, a senior policeman said.
Sources at the Lahore morgue said the deceased sustained a bullet injury in his right eye, while two other bullets pierced through his skull and left temple, causing his instant death. "It is a sectarian murder because so far there is no indication of any personal enmity," DIG Shaukat Javed told AFP.
No group claimed responsibility for either killings, but police suspect an extremist sectarian group was involved in the attacks. The broad daylight murder in Lahore took place in a 14-foot wide street, leading from Multan Road to the dingy main Kharak bazaar, at around 1:30 pm. Syed Rizwan was present at his book shop -- Imran Book Depot --when two youths opened fire at him, eyewitnesses said. He was pronounced dead at a nearby medical care centre. The killers fled, witnesses added.
After the killing, more than 200 people blocked roads and threw stones at the police in Sabazazar area of Lahore. The protesters demanded the arrest of the killers. "It is enough now. Our innocent people are being killed and it is becoming hard for us to control our youth amidst this sort of killings," Allama Hassan Turabi, a Tehrik-i-Jafaria leader told The News at Hussain's funeral prayers in Karachi.