KARACHI: A suspect allegedly involved in the killing of a young NED University student, was shot and arrested during an encounter on Superhighway, police said on Friday.

Twenty-one-year-old Bilal Nasir, a resident of Federal B. Area, who was in his third year at the petroleum engineering department of the NED University, was shot dead when he put up resistance to a robbery bid at a tea shop outside the main university gate near Samama Shopping Mall on Thursday.

The killing sparked outrage on social media with students holding protest demonstrations on campus against the breakdown of law and order in Karachi.

Karachi police chief Javed Odho told a press conference at his office that the suspect, who was arrested on Friday morning after an encounter, hailed from Afghanistan.

Slain Bilal Nasir laid to rest amid moving scenes; demonstration held against murder outside varsity

A special team led by East-SSP Syed Abdul Rahim Shirazi arrested 16-year-old Nizamuddin, an Afghan Tajik, while his accomplice, also a Tajik, was still at large.

The suspects were ‘illegal immigrants’ and residents of the Jamali Pull area off Superhighway, he said, stressing the need to bring illegal immigrants living in Karachi under a law.

Meanwhile, funeral prayers for Bilal Nasir were held at a Federal B. Area mosque on Friday.

A large number of residents, friends, students and others attended the funeral prayers. The robbery victim was buried in Yaseenabad Graveyard amid moving scenes.

Protest

Students and activists staged a demonstration outside the university against the killing. The protesters claimed that street crimes had increased particularly on University Road.

Speaking on this occasion, Jamaat-i-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem Rehman said law enforcers were present in vicinity of the university and Rangers were also present, but when they asked the Rangers to control robberies in the city, they replied that “this was not within the ambit of their powers”.

The JI leader announced that they would observe a ‘mourning day’ on Saturday and a rally would also be taken out.

One track of the University Road was closed during the protest which caused severe traffic jam on the busy artery.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022