PTI leader shot dead while returning from court hearing

A local leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was shot dead in a broad daylight incident of target killing on Friday apparently over a disputed land in Karachi.

The incident took place in the afternoon near the Murghi Khana stop in the Quaidabad area within the jurisdiction of the Shah Latif police station where two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on a moving car. As a result, one man was killed and another wounded.

The suspects managed to escape after completing their swift operation. Upon receiving the information, police and rescuers reached the crime scene and transported the casualties to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where the deceased person was identified as 45-year-old Khuda Dost, alias Haider Swati, and the injured person as Umer Zada, 25.

According to SHO Mumtaz Marwat, the victim had a dispute with land grabbers over a piece of land and he was targeted when he was returning home from a hearing at the Malir Courts. The injured person in his initial statement told the police that their car first came under attack shortly after they left the court but they escaped; however, the armed men continued to follow them and again targeted them near the Murghi Khana stop.

The victim’s elder brother Nawaz Swati is a Pakistan Peoples Party leader and a close aide to MNA Agha Rafiullah. PTI Karachi Secretary General and MPA Saeed Afridi, PPP leader Israr Khan and other leaders also reached the JPMC.

The officer said the deceased man had a dispute over 50 acres of land with a rival, Gul Zaman, and others, and both the parties had registered cases against each other. Zaman’s brother was also wounded in the past in a firing incident, after which he registered a case against the rival group.

In the meantime, the PTI leadership condemned the killing of Dost who was the party’s Ibrahim Hyderi town president. PTI Karachi Division President and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman has demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. No case had been registered till the filing of this news story. Further investigations are under way.