KARACHI, April 1: A young activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was gunned down in the Garden area in the early hours of Friday, police said.

“Two armed men on a motorbike intercepted Shahjahan near the BP Factory bus stop,” said an official at the Garden police station. “One of the riders got off the motorbike and fired at Shahjahan before speeding away with his accomplice.”

He said the young man suffered gunshot wounds in the head, chest and abdomen and was shifted to the civil hospital for treatment.

He underwent multiple surgeries but could not survive, the official said.

The police said the victim was a resident of Ranchhore Line and associated with the area chapter of the MQM.

Tea room owner shot dead A few hours later, the owner of a tea shop was killed in an armed attack on his roadside restaurant in the Kharadar area, police said.

They added that 45-year-old Gul Nawab Khan was at the cash counter while a few people were having tea when the restaurant in Juna Market was attacked.

Witnesses were quoted as saying by the police that there were three attackers riding a 1,000-cc car. “There were a few customers having tea as well as some waiters at the time of incident,” said Kharadar SHO Inspector Ghulam Nabi Afridi. He added that Gul Nawab, who was at the cash counter, sustained two bullet wounds.

The attackers, however, did not take away cash or valuables, the inspector said, and showed unawareness about the motive behind the killing.

The police said the victim was a resident of Hijrat Colony and originally hailed from Mansehra. He was married, with four children, they said.

Youngster stabbed to death A meeting of area elders called to settle a dispute between two groups of youths in Bin Qasim Town turned ugly on Friday when the youngsters became violent and used knives, sticks and stones against each other that left one of them dead, police said.

The police added that residents of Umar Marvi Goth, a locality on the city's outskirts along the National Highway, were holding a Jirga after Friday prayers to settle the dispute involving a cellphone snatching by one of the youngsters.

“While it's a centuries-old tradition and the disputes do resolve in such sittings, unfortunately it didn't work today,” said Shah Latif Town SHO Sub-Inspector Mulazim Hussain.

“Actually, a 24-year-old resident of the goth, Jamal, complained to the area elders against some youngsters of the neighbourhood that the latter had snatched his cellphone on Wednesday evening.”

The Jirga, led by some elders, was hearing both sides but the accused turned violent when evidence against them were brought before the gathering, he said.

“It seems that finding themselves trapped they attacked the other group and participants of the meeting. They mainly targeted complainant Jamal and stabbed him,” the SHO said.

Two other people also sustained injuries, he said, adding that all the victims were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre while Jamal succumbed to the injuries on the way.

“Although the attackers escaped after the incident, we are very much confident that we will arrest them. They all are the residents of the same goth and everyone, even members of their families, is witness to the incident,” he added.

Elderly woman killed

An elderly woman was found dead in a pool of blood inside her single-room quarter in Hazara Colony, police said.

They added that 72-year-old widow, Hukum Bibi, had been living at the rented place alone for the past several years.

“In the middle of the day, her only son who lived separately with his family came to see her only to find her lying in a pool of blood,” said Defence SHO Sub-Inspector Ejaz Khawaja.

The official said that her son informed the area police and the body was subsequently shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a medico-legal examination.

“She was hit by some metal stuff that left several cut marks on her body,” he said ruling out an attempt of robbery as a motive behind the murder.

“There was nothing valuable in her home that could have attracted robbers or thieves. She was deliberately killed and we have registered an FIR (121/2011) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of her son against unidentified suspects,” the SHO said.