KARACHI, June 13: A senior Pakistan People's Party activist and lawyer of suspected assassin Ajmal Pahari was gunned down in North Karachi on Monday, police and party sources.

The incident was condemned by the PPP and the Karachi Bar Council, which also announced that lawyers would observe a black day against the killing on Tuesday.

The police said that armed men riding a motorcycle fired at 49-year-old Zia Alam in Sector 7-D of North Karachi. The victim sustained three bullet wounds and died on the spot, they added.

“He was hit in the chest, abdomen and arm. He died on the spot,” said Sir Syed SHO Inspector Changez Khan.

The inspector said the police found spent bullet casings of a 30-bore pistol at the crime-scene and shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

A large number of area residents and PPP workers gathered at the hospital.

The police said that the victim was a resident of North Nazimabad and father of four.

Sohail Abidi, the deputy information secretary of the Karachi division of the PPP, condemned Advocate Alam's killing and said that it was carried out to cause harassment to PPP activists.

“He was a member of the PPP's Sindh council, which reflects his seniority and commitment with the party,” he said, adding that the victim was actively involved in the 1983 movement against the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq.

Sources in the legal fraternity said the victim was also the counsel for Ajmal Pahari, who is facing trial in several murder cases, and won him bail in one of the cases recently.

An officer-bearer of the Karachi Bar Council (KBC) also condemned the fatal attack on Advocate Alam and said the legal fraternity would observe a 'black day' on Tuesday.