SUKKUR: A couple, said to be employees of a Rangers hospital in this city, was shot dead while they were on their way back home from a family court along with their small daughter and a woman lawyer on Tuesday.

The assailants stopped the car they were riding at a section of Bandar Road and one of them aimed his gun at the couple before pulling the trigger to kill them on the spot.

The other persons accompanying them in the car escaped unhurt in the attack.

Officials at the B-Section police station said that some armed men intercepted the car and one of them fired shots at Akbar Ali Solagi and his wife Zeenat Gadani killing them on the spot. They were were on their way home after attending the hearing their case in a family court at the sessions court building, they said. The couple’s lawyer, Advocate Farzana Bhatti Makwal, said the killer walked away without any fear of being caught. A passerby was seen recording the video of the episode with his mobile phone, she claimed.

According to the police and the lawyer, Zeenat Gadani’s first husband, Madad Ali Gadani, had filed a case against her for contracting a second marriage with Akbar Ali Solangi, without being divorced by him [Madad Ali Gadani].

Lawyer says case pertained to woman’s second marriage; their plea for police protection was earlier turned down by court; deceased were employees of Rangers hospital

“On a directive of Sukkur SSP Singhar Malik, we have arrested four suspects,” the police claimed, and said they were being interrogated.

They said the SSP had formed a three-member committee led by the city DPS to investigate the incident.

Advocate Makwal told Dawn that she was appearing in the family court without accompanying her clients [the couple] and had already produced documents of Zeenat Gadani’s marriage with Akbar Ali Solangi in the sessions court. It was contracted about 18 months ago, she added.

She said when the judge had ordered production of the couple, she requested that their personal appearance be condoned as they were facing threat to their life. However, the judge turned down the request for police protection saying that for this an order from high court would be required. “As such, I picked up the couple and their child in my car from their residence to produce them in the court. While we were driving back to their residence, the car was intercepted by the armed men and the couple, who were sitting on the rear seat with the small girl, were shot dead,” she said.

Sources said that Madad Ali Gadani had an altercation with Akbar Ali Solangi in the court before they left the premises.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2023