KARACHI: A young noha khwan was shot dead in what his family believed an act of targeted killing in the Scheme 33 area off Superhighway, police said on Saturday.

While the police insisted that Hasnain Haider Naqvi was killed by armed robbers, his family said the assailants targeted him and spared his friend who was driving their car near PCSIR Housing Society.

SSP-East Zubair Nazeer Shaikh said that the victim, along with a friend, had left his residence in New Rizvia Society in his car. They were intercepted by two men on a motorcycle but Hasnain did not stop the car and hit the bike riders who slipped and fell.

However, their other accomplices, who were also riding a motorbike, opened indiscriminate fire on the car and rode away.

Police claim Hasnain was killed by robbers; relatives believe he was targeted on sectarian grounds

Hasnain suffered multiple bullet wounds and was taken to the nearby Dow University Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. The SSP ruled out the possibility of a targeted killing and claimed that the police were sure that it was a robbery related incident.

He said that investigators got significant clues about the identity of the killers.

Contrary to the police version of the events, a cousin of the victim told Dawn that Hasnain’s friend was driving the car and when two bike-riders tried to stop their vehicle, he hit them. Their accomplices intercepted the car and opened straight fire on Hasnain, but they did not shoot his friend.

He said that the assailants did not take away anything and the family strongly believed that it was a case of targeted killing.

He said that Hasnain was on his way to Ancholi after reciting nohas at New Rizvia Society when assailants riding three motorbikes targeted him.

The funeral prayers were held at New Rizvia Imambargah in the evening. He was laid to rest at Wadi-i-Husain graveyard.

A large number of protesters, including religious scholars, staged a sit-in and blocked the main road in protest over the killing and the police’s version. They said it was a case of targeted killing on sectarian grounds.

Allama Hasan Zafar Naqvi termed it a targeted killing and believed that it was the continuation of Parachinar killings.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2023