No headway made in probes into sectarian killings

No progress has been made in investigations into sectarian killings in Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulshan-eIqbal despite the passage of two weeks.

On October 7, two motorcycle riders fired gunshots at a car near a house in Gul Hassan Society, Block 8, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, killing Mansoor Zaidi, 55, a trustee of Zainul Abideen Imambargah, and wounding his son, Ammar Zaidi.

The target killers then drove to a place near Disco Bakery in Block 3 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and opened fire on people who were waiting to pick up their family members who had been attending a majlis. The firing left Jawwad Raza and his brother-in-law, Adeel, injured. Four days later, Raza breathed his last.

Bothe the incidents are being investigated by police and another law enforcement agency. The investigation officer of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal attack case, Inspector Zulfiqar Bajwa, told The News on Thursday that both shootings were carried out with the same 9mm pistol and a forensic report on the empty cartridges collected from the crime scenes confirmed that.

He said footage from three cameras installed in the street where the occurred had been checked, but for the Gulistan-e-Johar incident, no footage was available. He added that geo-fencing had been conducted, but that too had provided no clue. 

The investigation officer further said that the firing incident that took place on October 18 and left two persons injured was also being investigated.

He said a forensic report on empty cartridges collected from the crime scene had not yet been received.

An official of a law enforcement agency disclosed that some suspects had been rounded up and were being interrogated.