KARACHI: A lawyer associated with the legal wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was shot dead outside his Korangi home on Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack.

Zaman Town SHO Shaukat Awan said that Advocate Syed Ali Hasnain Shah Bukhari, 35, was about to board his car parked outside his home in Korangi’s Y Area at 8.50am when armed pillion-riders emerged there and fired shots at him.

Hearing gunshots, his brother, Muzammil, came out and found the victim lawyer lying in a pool of blood. He raised an alarm and the fleeing assailants also fired at him but missed, he added.

Advocate Bukhari sustained critical bullet wounds and was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors declared him dead.

The victim sustained three bullet wounds in the head, said police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir.

DIG-East Munir Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that it was a case of targeted killing, which was not carried out on sectarian or political grounds.

He said that the family provided a significant lead about the possible identity of and motive for the attackers and they would lodge an FIR and nominate suspects. The police were waiting for them, he added.

MQM demands action against banned outfits

The MQM demanded that the government take action against banned militant outfits which were targeting MQM workers and people belonging to a particular sect with impunity.

Speaking at a press conference, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said that the victim lawyer was a senior member of the MQM’s legal aid committee and actively pursuing petitions filed for the recovery of MQM’s missing persons.

He criticised the lack of an effective strategy to take meaningful action against banned militant outfits despite having national consensus.

He asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to play their due role in ensuring strict action against banned organisations.

About the victim, he said that he originally hailed from Attock and left a widow and three children.

Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain strongly condemned the killing of Advocate Bukhari. “Was it a crime to pursue the cases of missing persons?” he said in a statement released from London on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

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