KARACHI, May 21: Two lawyer brothers were gunned down in a Mauripur locality on Saturday, police said.

They said the two brothers — 40-year-old Altaf Hussain and 32-year-old Nazar Hussain — were targeted a few seconds after they had left their Musharraf Colony home in their car.

“The elder brother was driving the car and when they reached near Al-Akbar Mosque armed men on a motorbike intercepted their vehicle,” said Mauripur SHO Nasarullah Khan.

“It was an early morning incident and a few witnesses told the police that one of the riders got off the motorbike and fired a volley of bullets at the car before speeding away with his accomplice.”

The two brothers suffered serious wounds and were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors pronounced them dead.

A large number of area people and members of the legal fraternity reached the hospital.

The police said they found some eight spent bullet casings from the crime-scene, which suggested that the assailant used a 9mm pistol.

“Both brothers were lawyers by profession and were going to the City Courts as a daily routine.

“The motive behind the killings is not yet clear but initial interaction with their families and professional colleagues led to the fact that the elder Hussain was taking care of some sensitive cases that included a dispute over some valuable property,” the area SHO said.

Victim Altaf Hussain was father of three and also an active member of the Karachi Bar Association, he said, adding that his younger brother got married only last year.

“The victims’ family is in a state of shock and anger. They are also busy with the arrangements for funeral, which will be held in their native town in Punjab. We are waiting for their response to formally register an FIR,” he added.

A religious leader, however, criticised the law-enforcement agencies for failing to curb incidents of targeted killings.

“Within the last two weeks seven people of a particular sect have been killed in such attacks,” said Allama Abbas Kumaili of the Jaffria Alliance of Pakistan.

“The government has failed to end violence and no credible action is seen on the ground against the proscribed outfits which are involved in these killings to wreck the city’s sectarian harmony and peace.”

Strike call for Monday

Meanwhile, the legal fraternity on Saturday observed a strike at the city courts and district courts of Malir, and the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) gave a province-wise strike call for May 23 to protest against the killing of their colleagues.

Legal proceedings remained suspended and the courts wore a deserted look as the few undertrial prisoners brought to the city courts lockup were driven back to prison after 11am because of the strike.

The general secretary of the Karachi Bar Association, Haider Imam Rizvi, said Advocate Altaf Hussain and his brother Nazar Hussain, a fresh law graduate, were gunned down by culprits near Musharraf Colony on Saturday morning.

He condemned the targeted killing of lawyers and said the legal community would observe a strike on Monday also, adding that the Karachi, Malir, Sindh High Court bar associations and the SBC would take out a procession from the SHC building and stage a sit-in at the Governor’s House on Monday.

He criticised the provincial government for its failure to stop the targeted killing of lawyers and also asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik to step down.

A statement of the SBC issued by its vice-chairman, Iftikhar Javed Qazi, said the council had condemned the murder of lawyers and announced that the legal fraternity would observe a complete boycott of courts across the province on Monday.

The bar associations would hold general body meetings to condemn the killing and stage protest demonstrations, it added.

A joint press conference of the KBA and the SBC would be held at the latter’s office on Monday to announce the course of action, the statement said.

The SBC also demanded that the government take immediate steps to the arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.