ATTOCK: Zafar Mughal moved into a residential area next to the Kamra airbase because he thought it would be a comparatively friendly place to live.

“Most of the residents are retired or serving employees of PAF Kamra,” he said.

Tenant of the late Latif Alam Butt, Mr Mughal is now – understandably – perturbed. His landlord was shot and killed a few hundred yards from his home in this otherwise sleepy neighbourhood.

Mr Butt was a retired air force employee who lived in this neighbourhood of nearly 10,000 people. The colony is named ‘Civic Abadi Gate No 2’ by virtue of being located right opposite Gate No 2 of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra on the GT Road.

But in view of recent events, Mr Mughal is now considering obtaining on-base accommodations, even though he admits there isn’t much to life if one was living inside the base.

Civic Abadi Gate No 2 outside Kamra airbase has seen two ‘targeted attacks’ in as many months

The colony falls under the jurisdiction of Kamra Cantonment and is located in the Hazro tehsil of Attock district, in the Punjab province. Mr Mughal, originally from Chiniot, recently moved here when he got a job at the airbase.

Being an Ahmadi himself, Mr Mughal’s fears may not be completely unfounded. But the murder of Latif Alam Butt has shaken the entire community and many in the neighbourhood are disturbed because they have “never witnessed anything like this before”.

“Everybody is afraid now. My mother is worried because my father goes to the office in uniform on his motorcycle at the same time every day,” said Arsalan, a young man from the neighbourhood.

Apprehensions among the community have grown following Mr Butt’s death. He is the second victim of a targeted attack in the same locality in less than three months.

While there is no official confirmation for this, locals from the area say that the modus operandi in both attacks was remarkably similar.

Khalid Malik, the local correspondent of a national daily, also echoes this view.

The previous attack occurred in September of this year, just two lanes from where Mr Butt was shot and killed.

Sajjad Haider, a retired armyman, was out for his morning walk around 6:30am when he was shot by unidentified men near an empty plot. Mr Haider was from the Shia community and owned a house, which he built after retiring from service.

Latif Alam Butt was targeted on Thursday afternoon, while on his way back home from his book store, located nearby.

Mr Butt had lived in the same house since 1991, the same year he retired from the Pakistan Air Force and opened a book store in the locality.

Thanks to his store, he was a familiar face to nearly everyone in the area and was the official distributor for several legal texts.

“We supply books to various courts, from Attock to Swabi and Mansehra. There was never any untoward incident or even the inkling of a threat against my father in the past,” said Zeeshan Butt, his son, who returned to Kamra on Saturday after laying his father to rest in their native town in Chiniot district.

“Around 20 Ahmadi families live in Kamra and none of them have had any complaints in the past. This incident comes as a shock to us all,” he said, adding “We do not know who could’ve done this, nor do we have any suspects”.

According to the police report, Mr Butt was shot four times in the chest with a 9mm pistol at point-blank range. All four bullets exited his body and one pierced his heart, killing him almost instantly.

Most air force personnel at the Kamra airbase knew Latif Alam Butt personally, not only because he was an ex-serviceman, but also through his eldest son, who is also in the air force.

A field officer from a federal intelligence agency expressed their concern over the matter and told Dawn that the family did not have a history of enmity with anyone.

“We have started to take the issue seriously and the role of extremists cannot be ruled out,” the official said, adding, “We are starting a house-to-house survey in collaboration with local law enforcement to collect details of all persons renting accommodations in the area, from Monday”.

“There are around 370 madressahs in Hazro tehsil and a large majority of those are small units, located in remote areas and do not heed our queries,” he said.

He complained that one of the seminaries even lodged a complaint against Special Branch personnel, who were just doing their job.

Though there are three madressahs in the Civil Abadi Gate No 2 neighbourhood, on particular khatib – Qari Muhammad Jan – has been in the spotlight as of late for his fiery speeches against the government and certain religious sects.

But Qari Jan, talking to Dawn, denied being involved in any illegal activity. He said he had been speaking out against the government to “guide the people”.

After it was stormed by terrorists in 2012, the Kamra airbase is heavily guarded. Being one of the country’s prime defence installations, the recent killings in the vicinity of the airbase has left authorities worried.

However, officials from both Pakistan Air Force and police deny any links between the terrorist attack and the recent spate of killings in the area.

“There could be many reasons and motives for the killings. It is too early to brand the death of Mr Butt a targeted attack,” said DSP Hazro Shaukat Shah.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2014