KARACHI, Aug 13: An activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement was shot dead on Wednesday morning in Railway Colony.

To mourn his death, shops, markets and business centres remained closed in parts of the city.

Another activist of its rival faction Mohajir Qaumi Movement was also shot dead in Liaquatabad in the afternoon.

Police said some unidentified armed men knocked at the door of Muttahida’s unit in charge of Railway Colony Ejaz Kamal around 2am. As Kamal came out of his house, the assailants shot three bullets and fled. Kamal, father of two sons and two daughters, received a bullet in his mouth and two in abdomen and died on the spot.

The body was taken to a hospital and later handed over to his family for burial.

The main commercial hub in the city remained closed to mourn the death of the Muttahida activist. The business centres, including the wholesale market in Kharadar, commercial centres in Mithadar, Empress Market, Burns Road, Plaza, New Chali, and other commercial outlets on I.I. Chundrigar Road remained closed.

Police and Rangers were deployed for security reasons in the areas, where mourning was observed. The police were also deployed at multinational companies, banks and other business firms located on I.I. Chundrigar Road to meet any eventuality.

Muttahida chief Altaf Hussain expressed his sorrow over the demise of Mr Kamal. In a statement from London, he condoled with the family of Mr Kamal and prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul and courage to the family to bear this loss.

The coordination committee of Muttahida said that the killing of three activists one after another was an outcome of open terrorism and termed the incident a conspiracy being hatched to disturb peace in the city. The committee asked the authorities to take notice of the terrorist activities and demanded that killers of the Muttahida activists must immediately be arrested.

Meanwhile, the body of an activist of Mohajir Qaumi Movement was found in Bandhani Colony, Liaquatabad, on Wednesday afternoon.

Police and party sources said that Mohammad Nadeem alias Patni, a resident of Liaquatabad, left his home for work but he was kidnapped on his way. It is believed that he had been taken to Bandhani Colony, where a bullet was shot into his head, which proved fatal for him.

The spokesman for MQM-H said that Nadeem, father of two, was the committee member of unit-159 of Liaquatabad. A chit, inscribed with “Mohajir Qaumi Movement ko Jashn-i-Azadi Mubarak”, was found from his pocket.

Condemning the incident, the party spokesman said that it was an open example of terrorism. Without naming his rival faction, he alleged that the terrorists had kidnapped Nadeem and killed him. He demanded that the authorities should nab the culprits as soon as possible and give them exemplary punishment.

However, the police said that Nadeem was not affiliated with any group. The police were unaware of the motive behind the killing.