MQM leader’s assistant, his daughter and city warden shot dead

Karachi

The personal assistant to a Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader, his eight-year-old daughter and a city warden were killed in a gun attack near Furniture Market in North Karachi on Monday night.

DIG West Feroze Shah said Mohammad Ateeq, personal assistant to MQM leader Nasreen Jalil, his daughter Tasbiha, and city warden Abid were travelling in a van that looked like a police vehicle when two men riding motorcycles fired gunshots at them.

They were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.

Ateeq and Abid had suffered multiple bullet wounds to their upper torsos. The eight-year-old girl had suffered a single bullet wound to the head.

Both Ateeq and Abid were residents of Sector-5E, North Karachi.

The DIG said police were looking for spent bullet shells at the crime scene and also checking if there were any CCTV cameras installed nearby so that the footage of the attack could be acquired.

Ateeq and Abid were travelling in a van provided to city wardens.

SSP Central Muqadas Haider said police initially became suspicious as there were police lights and a monogram on the van but did not have a registration number plate.

He added that the police checked the chassis and engine numbers but could not find the vehicle registered in police records.

Later, it was learnt that the van was allotted to the defunct city government, which had illegally put up the police lights and the monogram.

“We will register an FIR of impersonation against whoever is responsible for putting these on the vehicle,” he added.

Home minister Sohail Siyal ordered police to launch a crackdown on vehicles that resembled police vans. He directed the police to confiscate such vehicles and taken action against their owners.

The directives will be applicable to vehicles with blue lights and SP number plates.