KARACHI, Oct 5: A retired superintendent of the police (SP) and his driver were on Friday shot dead by unknown assailants in the New Karachi Industrial Area in an ambush chillingly reminiscent of the one in which two of his sons, who had been police inspectors, were killed in the Al-Falah area some 10 years ago.
SP Aziz-ur-Rehman was on his way home after offering Juma prayers in Masjid-i-Shuhada with his driver head constable Mohammed Nadeem and son Tariq Aziz, a sub-inspector with the Aziz Bhatti police.
According to statements given by witnesses, a pedestrian signalled to them near the traffic lights at New Karachi No 5. “When the jeep stopped, another pedestrian stepped forward and they both opened fire on the vehicle’s front seats,” said a witness questioned by the police.
Mr Rehman received bullets on his face, chest and head while his driver was wounded in the head. Both died on the spot. His son Tariq Aziz received minor injuries and was admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
The bodies of the two men were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsy where hospital sources say that the nature of the wounds indicates that the shots were fired from very close range.
“We have collected 36 empty cartridges from the crime scene,” said Javed Baloch, SP New Karachi Town. “We have been gathering information from different sources regarding the incident and have approached some eyewitnesses to get initial statements.” He told Dawn that the case would be registered after the completion of medical and procedural matters.
Confirming that Mr Rehman was the father of two police inspectors killed in an almost identical manner in 1996-97, Mr Baloch said that after the murder of his son, the deceased had provided funds to build Masjid-i-Shuhada and used to attend Friday prayers there regularly.
“We suspect that the killers would have watched him closely before putting the operation into execution,” he added.
According to sources in the police department, the officer killed was famous for the tugs-of-war he got into at different times with his seniors and political parties, particularly the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). He was serving as a deputy superintendent of the police (DSP) when his sons, Kashif Aziz and Rashid Aziz, were brutally murdered as they returned home after offering Friday prayers in an area mosque near the Shamsi Housing Society in Shah Faisal Town.
“Police constable Abid, who had been one of the eyewitnesses in the brothers’ murder, was also shot dead two months ago in the Al Falah area,” said a source close to the case proceedings. “Other than Tariq Aziz, who was injured in Friday’s tragedy, another son of Mr Rehman, Arif Aziz, is also serving in the police department as a DSP.”
