KARACHI: An official of the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) was shot dead in what appeared to be a targeted attack in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Wednesday morning, police said.

The Sharea Faisal police said that Irfan Ali Mahar, 40, dropped his daughter at her school in the area and was returning home along with his minor nephew at around 7.45am when armed assailants riding on a motorcycle intercepted his car near Chapal Plaza in Block-13, fired indiscriminately and rode away.

They said Mr Mahar sustained multiple bullet wounds but his nephew survived the attack as he was sitting on the backseat of the car and hid himself as soon as the firing started.

The wounded was taken to the nearby Darul Sehat Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at around 8.15am. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

Sindh Bar Council announces province-wide boycott today

Additional Police Surgeon at JPMC Summaiya Syed said that the victim suffered five bullet wounds including in the chest.

SSP-East Qamar Raza Jiskani said that the victim was not a lawyer and he was working as the office secretary of the SBC.

He said that it appeared to be an incident of targeted killing but the exact motive could only be ascertained after a thorough investigation.

Following the killing, the CCTV footage of the incident went viral on social media in which the masked assassins were seen spraying the car with bullets from a close range.

The funeral prayer was held at Baitul Mukaram Masjid in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and attended by a large number of lawyers, lawmakers and area people. Later, the body was taken to his native town, Garhi Yaseen in Shikarpur district for burial.

Lawyers boycott proceedings

The murder of the SBC official angered the legal fraternity as lawyers boycotted judicial proceedings at the City Courts and many of them reached the scene of crime.

In a statement, the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) condemned the brutal murder and urged the inspector general of police to take immediate measure for the arrest of the killers.

With regard to the boycott of the proceedings, the SHBCA statement said: “The Sindh High Court chief justice has ordered that no adverse orders be passed during the course of the day. However, urgent matter may be taken up.”

The chairman of the executive committee of the Sindh Bar Council, Arif Daud, also condemned the killing of its secretary and announced a province-wide boycott of court proceedings on Thursday (today).

Meanwhile, opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmakers Khurram Sher Zaman and Ghaffar Bilal also attended the funeral prayer.

They told the media that their party had been raising its voice before the Sindh Assembly about worsening law and order situation in the province and had also protested before the Central Police Office over the recent targeted killing of their party leader, Sakhawat Rajput, in Kamber but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2021