RAWALPINDI: Two local politicians were shot and killed by three unidentified individuals in Saddar Wednesday night. Police said one of the victims was shot 11 times and the second was shot once.

Local PML-N leader and former Zakat committee chairman Mehmood Hussain and local PPP leader Mohammad Moosa Tahir Butt were standing in a street in Koila Centre at around 11:30pm on Wednesday when three armed individuals dressed in black began firing at them.

Mamoon Hussain, Mehmood Hussain’s brother, said in an FIR registered with the Cantt police that he was at a nearby shop with Junaid Butt when three people dressed in black opened fire on his brother.

He said Tahir Butt was also shot when he tried to save Hussain, and the shooters escaped on foot afterwards.

Mr Hussain said in the FIR that one of the shooters shot Hussain in the head, and when he fell to the ground the two other shooters shot him 10 more times.

Superintendent of Police Potohar Division Syed Ali said it was too early to say whether the murders were a targeted attack. However, the families of both victims have said they do not have any enmity with anyone.

Mr Ali also said the police could not obtain CCTV footage from nearby shops.

However, he claimed that the shooter would be arrested soon because the police have Hussain’s mobile phone, which was confiscated for call data records and would help find the shooters.

He said that according to the initial postmortem report, Hussain was shot 11 times and Butt was shot once.

Soon after the shooting, a former PML-N MNA and other political workers reached the District Headquarters Hospital and demanded the police arrest the shooters.

An emergency meeting of the Cantt traders union was also held on Thursday to condemn the killings and offer condolences.

The traders demanded that the police arrest the shooters within 20 days, warning that they would otherwise hold a shutter-down strike.

Separately, a man was shot dead and another was shot and injured in the Saddar Barooni area on Thursday.

Musafar Khan told police that he was at the home of Usman Ali in Mir Haider Colony along with his son Mohammad Ibrahim and Hazrat Wali, when Mr Ali’s son-in-law came and shot Mr Ali, critically injuring him.

He said Hazrat Ali, who was in an adjoining room, entered the room when he heard the gunshots and was also shot and injured.

Mr Khan said that the witnesses tried to arrest the shooter, but he managed to escape.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2019