KARACHI: A senior journalist, who had been living alone after retirement from Nawa-i-Waqt newspaper, was murdered during Eid holidays in the city, officials said on Wednesday.

Zeba Burney, wife of late journalist Naeem Qamar, was found dead inside her flat in Khudadad Colony on Monday morning, Jamshed SP Dr Rizwan Ahmed said.

Her body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors told police that it was a case of murder as there were signs of strangulation on her neck, the SP said, adding that police had approached her brother in F.B. Area but he was reluctant to pursue the case.

The senior police official said an investigation officer of the case had been sent to her brother’s home again on Wednesday for lodging an FIR.

On Wednesday night, Brigade police registered a murder case against unknown suspects on complaint of the victim’s brother, Fakhr-ul-Hasan.

According to SP Rizwan, initial investigation suggested that the murder was not related to any robbery attempt. He said the victim was living in a multistorey building and his experience showed that generally robberies did not take place in flats owing to resistance. Besides, he added, in cases of murder of people living alone, mostly the servant or close relatives had been found involved.

Brigade SHO Javed told Dawn that it appeared that the incident had occurred on Chand Raat, but police had been informed about it by her neighbour at around 10.30am on Monday.

She had been living alone after the death of her husband several years ago. A sister of Ms Burney, who was living with her, had also passed away a few years ago, said the police officer.

SP Rizwan told Dawn that police were waiting for her post-mortem report to launch a formal investigation into the case.

Sources at the police surgeon office told Dawn that there was an extreme shortage of lady medico-legal officers in three major government hospitals — JPMC, Civil Hospital Karachi and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital — where only three such MLOs performed duty.

Condemnation

The Karachi Union of Journalists condemned the murder of the senior journalist and urged the Sindh chief minister, home minister and IGP to take immediate steps to arrest the killers.

Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal took notice of the murder and sought a detailed report from DIG East Zone Arif Hanif, according to a spokesperson for the provincial government.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2017