KARACHI: An armed attack on a shrine in Korangi left its caretaker and two devotees dead on Saturday and a few minutes later gunmen targeted a 45-year-old man and his nephew in Shah Faisal Colony, with investigators seeing the first incident as an act of terrorism and a party claiming that the second one was an assault on sectarian grounds.

Three men on a motorbike stormed Dargah Nazar Shah in Korangi off the Nasir Jump bus stop and close to Chakra Goth and fired multiple shots which hit the three men present inside. The incident sparked fear in the area, and heavy contingents of police and Rangers cordoned off the shrine.

“The firing left the shrine’s caretaker, Zakir Hussain Shah, and his two aides –– Younus and Nawaz –– dead on the spot,” said Inspector Asadullah Mangi, the SHO of the Zaman Town police station. “The attackers parked their motorbike outside and used two .9mm pistols in the attack after entering the shrine. All three victims died instantly. We have shifted the bodies to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.”

Just a few minutes later, another incident in Shah Faisal Colony left 45-year-old man and his 30-year-old nephew dead. An official said three men came to a motorbike repair shop for some repairs and after the job was done killed the two men in the shop.

“It’s quite a strange incident,” said SP Ali Asif of Shah Faisal Colony. “There was a workshop in Drigh Colony owned by 30-year-old Asif Shakeel. At around 1:45pm three men came on a motorbike to get their two-wheeler repaired. At that time Asif’s maternal uncle Ashiq Shakoor was also there who had come there to see his nephew. The three men waited for some 10 minutes and after their motorbike was fixed, one of them pulled out a pistol and killed Asif and Ashiq and sped away with his two accomplices.”

He said the victims were residents of Shah Faisal Colony. Asif had been running the shop for the past many years and was not associated with any political or religious group. However, his claims were rejected by a spokesman for the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, who said the two victims were ASWJ members and they were targeted for their affiliation with the party.

DIG-East Munir Sheikh said the two incidents were not linked. Regarding the attack on the Korangi shrine, he said the investigators were looking into the incident from two different angles.

“The shrine was said to have been set up on the traffic island along the main road some 176 years ago by Zakir Hussain Shah, who originally hailed from Chakwal,” he said. “We have yet to ascertain whether the attack was carried out over some land dispute or whether it was part of the trend witnessed mainly in Karachi’s west district where banned outfits had targeted such places in the recent past.”

He ruled out the incident of Shah Faisal Colony as a sectarian attack saying the police had no record of activities of the two victims. The motive for the attack was yet to be ascertained, he added.

“The victims were religious persons, and quite respected in the neighbourhood. They were not associated with any group and I don’t think they were targeted for their sect. Things would be much clearer within the next few hours,” added the DIG.

Published in Dawn, August 24th , 2014