KHAIRPUR: A milk-seller was shot dead in what was described as ‘targeted killing on sectarian grounds’ in the Panj Hatti area along the old National Highway on Thursday morning.

The A-Section police and witnesses said that two armed men riding a motorcycle carried out the attack and fled.

The victim was identified as Mir Manzoor Hussain, 60.

The police shifted the body to the Khairpur Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination and then handed it over to the heirs.

Local leaders and activists of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Shia Rabita Council (SRC) including Abdullah Muttahari, Agha Shah and Maulana Mazhar Naqvi led a protest demonstration against the killing and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

They, along with the bereaved family, took the victim’s body to a section of the old National Highway and held a sit-in for a few hours.

On their appeal, a partial strike was observed in the city. Shops in Sarafa Bazaar, spare parts market and the commercial area from Panj Hatti to Mariam Taup Chowk remained shut till the evening.

Since no official of the provincial government, district administration or police visited the mourners to pacify them, the protesters marched up to the Jillani House (locally known as the CM House) and held a noisy demonstration to demand action against the killers.

After about an hour, PPP MNA Nawab Wassan came out and assured the MWM and SRC leaders that the culprits would be arrested within the next 24 hours.

He asked the Khairpur deputy commissioner and SSP, who were accompanying him, to get an FIR registered as per the complaint of the bereaved family.

Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.