Notables killed in Lahore in six decades

LAHORE: Senior Superintendent Punjab Police Zahid Gondal and DIG Traffic Captain (retd) Ahmad Mobin are among the various notable and highly placed personalities who have till date been attacked fatally in Lahore by terrorists, suicide bombers and other assassins, an exclusive research conducted by the "Jang Group and Geo Television Network" reveals. 

Here follows the list of famous religious, political and diplomatic personalities who have met unnatural deaths in Lahore since 1958:  On May 9, 1958, an important NWFP politician, Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (popularly known as Dr. Khan Sahib), was murdered in Lahore. He was brother of Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) and uncle of late Wali Khan. 

Dr Khan Sahib was assassinated at his son Sadullah Khan’s 16 Aikman Road, GOR, Lahore residence by a disgruntled Land Revenue clerk Atta Mohammad. Newspaper archives show Jabbar Khan was waiting for Col Syed Abid Hussein (father of Begum Abida Hussain) of Jhang to accompany him to a meeting organized in connection with the scheduled February 1959 general elections.

On December 20, 1972, PML-N leader Kh Saad Rafique's father, Kh Muhammad Rafique, was shot dead bya sniper during an anti-government demonstration in Lahore. The late Kh Rafique was protesting against the policies of the sitting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto regime. 

According to national newspapers of December 22, 1972, his funeral procession was one of the largest in the history of Lahore, after those of Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed in 1929 and Allama Iqbal in 1938. 

History shows that the first funeral prayer for Allama Iqbal was attended by over 20,000 people at Lahore's Islamia College Railway Road and the second one outside the Badshahi Mosque, was attended by a crowd of over 60,000, with Moulana Ghulam Murshid as the prayer leader. 

On November 11, 1974, eminent lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri's father, Nawab Ahmad Khan Kasuri, was allegedly killed on the orders of then premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

On September 25, 1981, Ch Shujaat Hussain's father Ch Zahoor Elahi was murdered in Lahore. 

On March 23, 1987, a globally-acclaimed Sunni religious scholar, Allama Ehsan Elahi Zaheer (1945-1987), father of firebrand scholar Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, was seriously injured in a Lahore bomb blast. The bomb, planted on the stage, exploded when Allama Zaheer was delivering speech, critically injuring the religious cleric and 18 others. Some 114 people were seriously injured in this incident. 

Ehsan Elahi Zaheer earned his fair share of controversy during his lifetime due to his well-known debates with the leaders of various movements within the Muslim world. Shifted to Saudi Arabia for treatment, Ehsan Elahi succumbed to his injuries after battling with death for 22 hours at a Riyadh hospital on March 30, 1987. 

His historic funeral at Riyadh was attended by dozens of thousands of people including senior Pakistan government officials like then president Ziaul Haq, ISI chief Akhtar Abdur Rehman and then foreign minister Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan. 

On December 19, 1990, Sadiq Ganji, then director general of Iranian Cultural Centre, was also shot dead in Lahore. 

In January, 1997, the main leader of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Zia-ur-Rehman Farooqi was killed in a bomb blast near Lahore sessions courts. On May 7, 2002, a noted religious scholar, Dr Ghulam Murtaza Malik, was shot dead in Lahore. On June 12, 2009, Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi (a leading Sunni Barelvi cleric with anti-Taliban views), was killed along with seven others in a suicide attack at the famous Jamia Naeemia Madrassa on Allama Iqbal Road (Garhi Shahu) in Lahore. The suicide attacker had detonated himself at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa shortly after Friday prayers. 

Research further shows that Lahore has been hit dozens of times during the last decade-and-a-half, especially after the history-changing 9/11 episode that had rocked United States and then the whole world consequently. Here follow the brief details of the major terror hits that have claimed at least 15 lives in Lahore: 

On March 27, 2016, over 60 people were killed in Lahore’s densely populated locality of Iqbal Town by cold-blooded terrorists on an Easter Sunday.

On March 15, 2015, bombings of a Lahore church had killed at least 15 people. Two blasts had rocked the Roman Catholic Church and the Christ Church during Sunday service at Lahore’s Youhanabad locality.

On November 2, 2014, an attack at the Wagha border had killed more than 60 people, leaving more than 110 injured. Victims included 10 women and eight children. Eight people from one family were also killed in this blast. Lahore’s temporary calm was thus shattered after a break of 387 days by this incident. 

On January 25, 2011, at least 16 people are killed while 70 others were injured in a suicide bomb explosion in a mourning procession of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) near its concluding point at Karbala Gamay Shah at Lahore’s historic Bhaati Gate. 

On March 8, 2010, a suicide bomb attack had killed at least 15 people in Lahore and wounded more than 60 others. The bomber had reportedly rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a building that housed an anti-terrorist wing of the Federal Investigation Agency. 

The explosion was so deadly that it had brought down the building that was targeted. A nearby religious school was also known to have been damaged in this bombing. 

On March 12, 2010, two suicide bomb attacks in Lahore had resulted in the deaths of at least 45 people, including at least nine soldiers, and had wounded 100 others. Both these bomb attacks had reportedly targeted military vehicles, as they were passing through a crowded area. The blasts occurred within 15 to 20 seconds of each other. These two blasts had occurred very close to Lahore Cantonment’s RA bazaar, which is in a busy residential and shopping area housing numerous Army facilities. 

On May 28, 2010, two Ahmedi worship places in city’s Garhi Shahu and Model Town localities —- 15 kilometres apart —- were attacked by terrorists. The two attacks were carried out almost simultaneously. Almost 100 people had lost lives in this incident.

On July 5, 2010, police had arrested six men, members of the banned group "Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami," believed to be linked to the attack. The men were in possession of 18,000 kgs of explosives, 21 grenades, six AK-47 rifles, as well as bomb-making material. Four of the apprehended men were alleged to have been furnished logistical support for the twin attacks against the Ahmedis community. 

On July 1, 2010, at least 50 people had lost lives and 200 others were hurt, after two suicide bombers had attacked the shrine of globally-renowned saint Hazrat Data Sahib (RA) in Lahore. It was reported that the first suicide bomber had struck in the underground section of the Data Darbar Complex, while the second suicide bomber had reportedly chosen the upstairs area of the shrine to strike. Both the suicide bombers had used explosive devices packed with ball bearings, in order to maximise the impact of their suicide attacks. 

On September 1, 2010, at least 38 people were killed and more than 250 others were reportedly injured in a series of three bomb explosions targeting a Shia procession taken out to observe the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali bin Abi Talib (RA). 

Following these three bomb blasts, it was reported that angry members of the general public had vented their anger on local police authorities, torching a police station and a police truck. 

The first explosion had occurred in the Karbala Gamay Shah area at 6:50 pm local time. This was followed by a second explosion about 25 minutes later in Bhaati Chowk and the third blast had rocked the Anarkali market about 10 minutes after the second explosion. Bodies of three suicide bombers were recovered, according to government sources. 

On May 27, 2009, suicide bombers had detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilograms of explosives near offices of the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at Queen’s Road, Lahore. At least 27 people were killed instantly and 326 were wounded. The two-storey building of the Rescue 15 police service was also destroyed. This was the second attack on ISI since the start of the war on terror. Some 40 vehicles were also destroyed. 

On October 15, 2009, at least 38 people (including 14 security officials) were killed and 20 injured in three separate attacks in Lahore. All nine attackers were later shot dead by security personnel. A large amount of ammunition and maps of sensitive installations were also recovered. The attacks were carried out at the FIA building on the Temple Road, the Manawan Police Training School and the Elite Police Academy at Bedian Road. 

On December 7, 2009, terrorists struck three provincial headquarters. The highest casualty rate was in Lahore when two powerful bomb blasts, 30 seconds apart, had ripped through the busy Moon Market in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Town, killing nearly 100 people. The blasts, which took place within a radius of 30 metres, had also caused a massive fire in a crowded shopping mall. It had also knocked out the electricity supply. 

On January 10, 2008, at least 24 people were killed and 73 injured in a suicide attack when the cops posted outside the Lahore High Court were deliberately targeted just minutes before the commencement of the scheduled lawyers’ protest against the government. This attack was first of its kind in Lahore since the start of the United States-led war on terror. 

On March 11, 2008, at least 24 people were instantly killed and more than 200 wounded in twin suicide bombings in Lahore. One of the attacks had ripped apart the FIA building at Temple Road, killing 21, including 16 policemen. The same day, another attack had hit the posh locality of Model Town, quite close to the Bilawal House, associated with PPP leaders Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari. 

On January 11, 1998, at least 25 people were killed and another 50 injured when three unidentified gunmen had unleashed a hail of bullets on a big gathering of Shias at Mominpura Graveyard at Lahore’s McLeod Road.