Traffic cop shot dead on Thursday night laid to rest

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police on Friday registered a case under a clause of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) against unidentified assailants for killing a traffic policeman, Head Constable Muhammad Ali, in Karachi’s Karimabad area late on Thursday night.

The FIR No 119/20 under the sections 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the ATA was registered at the CTD against unidentified armed assailants on the request of Section Officer Hanif of the Azizabad traffic section.

Police said the armed motorcyclists had targeted and killed the victim shortly after he parked a vehicle outside the traffic police post and was standing there. His funeral prayers were offered at the Rizvia Imambargah and later he was laid to rest at the Wadi-e-Hussian graveyard amid tears and sobs.

Ali, son of Syed Ali Rizvi, was posted at the Azizabad Traffic Police Post. He was shot twice in his upper torso and died shortly after the incident. He was rushed to the Ziauddin Hospital in North Nazimabad and later shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

A contingent of law enforcers, including police and the Rangers, reached the crime scene to inquire into the incident. He is the fifth cop who was targeted and killed in Karachi during recent months. The city has of late also witnessed around seven hand grenade attacks on the vehicles and offices of law enforcement agencies as well as the pro-Kashmir rally of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. However, the investigators have yet to arrest a single culprit behind the series of targeted killings of policemen as well as the grenade attacks.

MWM condemns killing

The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) on Friday condemned the target killing of the traffic policeman, terming it as part of the ongoing killing of Shias in the country, adds our correspondent.

The MWM said the slain cop was the brother-in-law of noted Shia Noha Khwan Sajid Jaffery. MWM Karachi Secretary General Allama Sadiq Jaffery said terrorist groups had been killing professionals of the Shia community in an organised way.

He criticised the federal and provincial governments for their failure to protect the lives of citizens. “The government is turning a blind eye to the plight of the Shia community,” he said and demanded that the government impose an ‘actual’ ban on the proscribed outfits.