Four held in connection with PTI leader’s killing over land dispute

Police on Saturday claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the target killing case of a political party worker in Karachi’s Shah Latif Town locality by arresting four suspects involved in the incident.

The arrested men included Wahid Zaman, Zikria, Amin and Suleman. Police also claimed to have seized two motorcycles from their possession. According to District Malir SSP Irfan Bahadur, the suspects were involved in the killing of 45-year-old Khuda Dost, alias Haider Swati, a local leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Another person, Umer Zada, 25, was also wounded in the incident.

SSP Bahadur said three police teams had been formed to arrest the companions of the arrested suspects and raids within and outside the city were being conducted to arrest them. Further investigations are under way.

Dost 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, Dost was killed and Umer Zada was wounded.

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 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.