Lawyer representing missing MQM activists shot dead

Karachi
A senior Sindh High Court lawyer who was representing the families of several missing activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was shot dead in Korangi on Wednesday.
The murder sparked a strong protest from MQM chief Altaf Hussain, who condemned the murder of advocate Ali Husnain Shah Bukhari. The Sindh High Court (SHC) also took notice of the killing.
Bukhari, who was a senior member of the Legal Aid Committee of the Muttahida, was standing near his car outside his residence in Sector 40-C in Korangi when four masked men riding two motorcycles approached him and shot him several times before fleeing.
Zaman Town SHO Shaukat Awan said the lawyer suffered three bullet wounds to the head and died at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
The attackers used a 9mm pistol in the shooting. Four spent bullet shells were found at the scene.
SHO Awan said that apparently the murder seemed to be a target killing incident.
A large number of MQM supporters and leaders offered the funeral prayers for the deceased at Ancholi Imambargah. The victim was buried at the Wadi-e-Hussain graveyard.
In a late-night incident, an MQM activist, Mohammad Shahnawaz, was attacked while he was sitting at a place near Chotta Maidan in Nazimabad No. 2.
His body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a postmortem examination.
At a press conference earlier in the week, senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi had vehemently condemned the increasingly frequent incidents of target killing in Karachi.
Rizvi maintained that terrorists associated with banned militant outfits were involved in these target killings but, unfortunately, no action was being taken against them.
Alluding to Karachi, Rizvi urged Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to expand the scope of the ongoing military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, and also demanded that authorities form a judicial commission to investigate the extrajudicial killings of his party’s activists.
SHC CJ takes notice
The chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC), Justice Faisal Arab, issued notices to the advocate general, prosecutor general and deputy attorney general of the province on an application submitted by the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) for a probe into Bukhari’s murder.
The provincial law officers were ordered to appear in court on March 10.
The SHCBA’s application submitted to the SHC chief justice was converted to a constitutional petition.
In the petition, the bar stated that the advocate was killed by unidentified assailants on Wednesday morning when he was on his way to the SHC for the hearing of cases.
It described the murder as a “heinous crime” and an “attempt to undermine the judicial system” and its independence. It was said that the judiciary could not work without the assistance of an independent legal fraternity.
The counsel for the SHCBA requested the chief justice to convert the application into a constitutional petition and direct all the departments and agencies concerned to investigate the brutal murder of Advocate Bukhari, arrest the killers and take them to task, besides immediately paying the bereaved family Rs20 million as compensation.
The bar association also demanded provision of foolproof security to all lawyers by law-enforcement agencies.
Courts’ boycott
Lawyers in the city boycotted courts on Wednesday as a protest against the murder of Advocate Ali Hasnain Bukhari.
Consequently, a number of cases could not be heard and under-trial prisoners had to be sent back as lawyers stayed away from the high court, city courts, Malir courts and anti-terrorism courts to mark their protest on the murder of their colleague.
Statements issued by the Karachi Bar Association and Malir Bar Association condemned the killing and demanded the arrest of culprits without any delay.