Police suspect sectarian motive behind KDA officer’s murder

A Karachi Development Authority (KDA) officer, who was also the vice-president of the Shia Ulema Council (SUC), was laid to rest on Wednesday. He was gunned down a day earlier.

Police believe that the man was killed on sectarian grounds, as his brother-in-law was also targeted in the same manner around seven years ago in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. KDA officer Mohammad Ali Shah, 46, was shot dead in his car on Shahrah-e-Quaideen on Tuesday while he was waiting at a traffic signal. Two men on a motorbike had approached the vehicle, and the pillion rider had shot him in the head.

Though the police have failed to make a breakthrough in the case, they suspect that Shah was targeted on sectarian grounds. Police have registered FIR No. 55/19 against unidentified persons under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Shah’s funeral prayer was offered at Khairul Amal Imambargah in Federal B Area’s Ancholi Society. It was attended by his family, relatives, friends and colleagues in large numbers. He was later laid to rest amid tears and sobs.

Condemnation

SUC Sindh chief Nazir Naqvi condemned Shah’s murder. He claimed that over five people of the Shia sect have been killed within a month, but the police have failed to trace the culprits. He lamented that the security of Shia leaders and scholars has been withdrawn, and demanded that it be restored. “Sindh’s chief minister, home minister and police chief will be responsible if such incidents continue.”

Sectarian attack

Police suspect that the modus operandi of the KDA officer’s murder resembles that of the 2011 sectarian killings. SHO Aurangzeb Khattak said Shah was Pasban-e-Aza leader Askari Raza’s brother-in-law and a complainant in his murder case. Raza was gunned down on December 31, 2011 in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood. Police said 30-bore pistols were used in the murders of both Raza and Shah.