KARACHI, March 4: A doctor was shot dead in Gizri on Monday morning.

The police said that Dr Alay Safdar Zaidi, aged 40, nephrologist, was on way to the Kidney Centre in his car (ABU-495) from his residence in Defence, Phase-7, when two men, riding on motorcycles, intercepted him at the traffic signal near Sultan Masjid on Khayaban-i-Hafiz.

The assailants sprayed Dr Zaidi with bullets when he was waiting for the green traffic light, the police said.

The assailants sped away without facing any resistance from the law- enforcement agencies after killing their target, witnesses said.

The police said that the doctor suffered multiple bullet injuries to his face and his head.

He was rushed to Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre in a police mobile, but he died a short distance away from the hospital, said a duty officer at Gizri police station.

Doctors at the Kidney Centre told Dawn that Dr Zaidi had joined the Kidney Centre as a consultant nephrologist about eight months back, after he had returned from the United States where he resided and studied for around 10 years.

The Pakistan Medical Association, in a statement, condemned the killing of Dr Zaidi, and said that the physicians and surgeons community was being compelled to go on strike for indefinite period, which they would reluctantly be forced to do if the authorities failed to arrest the killers of doctors.

The PMA maintained that this daylight killing of Dr Zaidi had proved total failure of government functionaries as they had failed to provide security of life to the people.

A condolence meeting for the late Dr Zaidi would be held in the PMA House on Wednesday at 3pm, the statement added.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Coordination Committee, in a statement, also condemned the killing of the doctor and described it as a conspiracy to foment sectarian violence in the city.