KARACHI, June 12: Police on Thursday failed to make any arrest in connection with the killing of Abdul Raziq Khan and his driver on Wednesday.
However, experts at the CPLC prepared a sketch of one of the suspects with the help of two witnesses.
An investigator told Dawn that a sketch had been prepared with the assistance of two eyewitnesses courageous enough to cooperate.
Two traffic police officials and a private security guard of a nearby bank were present on the spot at the time of the attack, but they refused to cooperate saying they had failed to notice anything particular about the attackers.
“The two traffic policemen were unarmed, but they could have at least noted down the registration number of the motorcycle used by the attackers,” remarked an investigator.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Mr Khan had been receiving life threats. The investigators said it was yet to be confirmed by close relatives of the deceased.
Sources said police had sought complete data of the cell-phone calls to the victim, which might provide some clues.
Raziq Khan, a former speaker of the Sindh assembly and vice-president of PML(Q) Sindh, and his driver were shot by two unidentified men riding a motorcycle near the city courts in the Mithadar area on Wednesday. The killers opened fire at the car of the deceased, killing Mr Khan on the spot and wounding the driver who died in the Civil Hospital.
Following the killing, police took three persons into protective custody. One of them, a parking fee collector, was allowed to go shortly after, as he could not provide any useful information.
Bakhat Zeb, a drink seller who was hardly 10 feet away from the place of the attack, and Mukhtar, owner of a small eating house in close proximity to the place of incident, helped the experts prepare the sketch.
According to their account, both the suspects were wearing trousers and shirts. One of them was wearing a helmet, and the one who actually opened fire had a cap on. He had his shirt out from his trouser in which he was carrying the klashnikove used in the incident, said police sources quoting eyewitnesses.
Having been elected on MQM’s ticket in 1990, Abdul Raziq Khan became speaker of the provincial assembly.
In 1992, when the operation against the MQM was on, he was among those who resigned en-bloc. But he said later he had been forced to resign. He joined the PML(N) but took a low-key approach.
Later, he joined the PML(Q). Last year he contested the provincial elections from Orangi Town and was defeated by the candidate.
SHCBA: The Sindh High Court Bar Association on Thursday condemned the murder of Advocate Abdul Raziq Khan and expressed its condolences to the bereaved family.
Deploring that even a member of the ruling PML (Q) was unsafe, the association demanded an inquiry by a high court judge into the killing.
BOYCOTT: Lawyers in the city boycotted court proceedings and staged demonstration on Thursday in protest against the killing of Abdul Raziq Khan.
Karachi Bar Association (KBA) convened its general body meeting at Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall in City Court and adopted a resolution condemning the killing.
