KARACHI: Wasim Akram, legendary pace bowler and former captain of Pakistan cricket team, remained unhurt when a man rammed his vehicle into his car on a busy road here on Wednesday.

Wasim Akram was going to the National Stadium when the incident took place on Karsaz Road. An exchange of hot words ensued and the man fired a shot which hit a tyre of the cricketer’s car and escaped, according to Karachi-East DIG Munir Ahmed Shaikh.

The police officer said that initial investigation suggested that it was an incident of road rage. The gunman appeared to be around 50-52 years old.

In a statement before police, Wasim Akram said he was going from his residence in the Defence Housing Authority to the stadium where he worked as a bowling consultant of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“When I took a turn on Habib Rehmatullah Road from Sharae Faisal at about 3:45pm, a car carrying three people tried to block my way and hit my vehicle from behind and ran away,” he said. “I tried to chase the vehicle to find out why they hit my car, but they did not stop.”

Mr Akram said he had signalled the ‘errant’ driver to stop but he hit his car again from one side and stopped. “I also stopped my car and then a man sitting on the back seat of the other car disembarked.”

He had a pistol which was pointed ‘at me’. A crowd gathered there and when someone said that it was Wasim Akram the gunman fired a shot and fled.

Mr Akram said the man intended to fire at him but he changed his mind and fired in the ground. “I want legal proceedings initiated aga­i­nst him.”

Talking to newsmen, he termed it a ‘scary’ incident. The road rage incidents, he said, also took place in developed countries, but people there did not rush to use arms and fire shots.

In the evening, police conducted a raid in the Defence area and seized the car purportedly used by the gunman, said Gulshan SP Abid Qaimkhani.

He said the car number mentioned by Wasim Akram was the same but the colour of the vehicle was different.

The SP said the owner, Uzair Ahmed, lived abroad and neighbours told police that the car had not been used for a long time.

Bahadurabad police registered an FIR against unknown suspects under sections 324 (attempt to murder), 337-H(2) (rash or negligent driving), 427 (mischief, causing damage) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2015

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