Target-killer of several religious leaders arrested in Karachi: police

KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested a key suspect behind the killing of several religious leaders in Karachi.

The suspect, identified as Wasi Haider, is accused of killing Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, Mufti Mohammad Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, Hafiz Mohammad Ahsan, Mufti Saleh Mohammad Qazi and others.

According to DIG West feroz Shah, police arrested Wasi Haider from Karachi's Federal B Industrial Area and recovered weapons and a grenade from the suspect. The suspect belongs to a political party, he said.

Police officials claimed that the Haider has been involved in target-killing activities in Karachi since 2005. They said that Haider and his accomplices carried out the murder of Mufti Shamzai in 2005 near Gurumandir area. In 2007, he allegedly killed local resident Safdar in Lines Area for not paying extortion money. In 2009, he murdered SHO Brigade Nasirul Hasan, also in Lines Area neighbourhood.

In January 2013, Haider gunned down Jamia Banuri Uloom Islamia top cleric Mufti Mohammad Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, his fellow cleric Mohammad Saleh and Hassaan Shah in broad daylight on the busy Shahrae Faisal road, officials claimed.

Officials also accused the suspect of carrying out the target-killings of several other political and religious leader activists and local residents for not paying extortion money.

Haider is said to have moved to Karachi in 2002 when he found residence in the Lines Area locality. In 2004, he joined a political party. Haider is under police custody and is being further interrogated.