KARACHI: A cleric, said to be a district president of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, was shot dead and his associate wounded in Korangi in an attack carried out apparently on sectarian grounds on Tuesday, police and party said.

They said that Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Hyderi, 42, along with an associate, Khan Din, 35, was going to Malir from Korangi to attend an ASWJ meeting. When their motorbike reached near Singer Chowrangi, armed men travelling in a car intercepted them, fired shots and fled.

They sustained multiple bullet wounds in the chest and abdomen and were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors declared Maulana Hyderi dead on arrival. Mr Din’s condition was also critical and he was admitted for treatment, said Dr Seemin Jamali, the head of JPMC’s emergency department.

“Moulana Hyderi was the president of the ASWJ’s Korangi chapter and his murder seems to be sectarian in nature,” said Landhi SP Akhtar Farooq.

A spokesperson for the ASWJ said the slain cleric was the district president of Korangi and also a member of the party’s majlis-i-shoora for the Karachi division and Mr Din was also an office-bearer.

They were on their way to Malir from Korangi to attend a party meeting, he added.

Activists of the ASWJ protested outside the mortuary of the JPMC and blocked the road for some time.

Tailor shot dead in Chakiwara

A tailor was shot dead in a Lyari area on Tuesday evening, according to police.

They added that Waseem was targeted at his shop in Bihar Colony. He sustained critical wounds and was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors declared him dead.

Chakiwara SHO Yasin Gujjar said that the tailor might have been killed over suspicion of being a police informer.

Published in Dawn February 25th , 2015

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