Second cop martyred in less than a week

In the third targeted attack in Karachi — second on a policeman — in less than a week, a constable belonging to the Shia sect was martyred outside his residence in New Karachi on Monday in broad daylight.

The motive behind the attack is yet to be ascertained, as the police are investigating the case from different angles, particularly sectarian grounds and the possibility of the victim being targeted for being a cop.

Constable Syed Ahmed Abbas Rizvi, 42, and his father Syed Ghazanfar Mehdi were returning home after withdrawing the latter’s pension when two men on a motorcycle intercepted them near the Imambargah Karwan-e-Hyderi in Sector 11D of New Karachi.

One of the suspects shot the policeman once in the chest. “They [the assailants] came, shot my son and escaped soon after,” said the victim’s elderly father. “My son breathed his last in front of me. I was unable to save him.”

Contingents of police and Rangers officials arrived on the scene following the attack. “I can say nothing precise about the motive behind the incident, as our investigations are in the initial stages,” said New Karachi SHO Majid Korai.

The police found a single empty shell of a 30-bore pistol from the crime scene and despatched it for analysis. The Counter Terrorism Department’s (CTD) Raja Umer Khattab and Mazhar Mashwani also reached the site of the attack. “The area where the incident occurred has a history of sectarian attacks, as another man was recently targeted here in the same manner,” Khattab told The News.

“A snatching bid, a sectarian killing or an attack on a police official — we are investigating the case from these three angles, and our main focus will be on the latter two.”

Karachi witnessed two other major incidents in the past week: a Shia man, who hailed from Parachinar, was gunned down in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on October 4, and a traffic police official was martyred on the Super Highway a day before that. Investigators are trying to establish a link between the three incidents.

“There is one similarity between the Super Highway and New Karachi attacks: both victims were policemen. And there are two similarities between the Gulshan-e-Iqbal and New Karachi incidents: both victims were Shias and targeted with 30-bore pistols,” said Khattab.

Interestingly, Hizbul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on social media, but CTD experts believe that it is a bogus claim.

Constable Rizvi’s body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, from where it was handed over to his heirs. His funeral prayer was offered at the DIG West office and was attended by his family as well as senior police officials, including Karachi police chief Additional IGP Dr Amir Shaikh. The deceased was laid to rest at the Shah Muhammad graveyard.

Sindh police chief IGP Dr Syed Kaleem Imam took notice of the New Karachi attack and sought a detailed report of the incident from the DIG West. He ordered that the perpetrators be arrested at the earliest.

The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) also condemned the incident and termed it a sectarian attack. “Target killings of Shia policemen have put a question mark on the National Action Plan,” said MWM leader Syed Ali Hussain Naqvi. “Sleeper cells of banned militant outfits are posing threats to the city.”