HYDERABAD: Two men were gunned down in Noorani Basti in a suspected targeted attack on Wednesday, officials said.

They said that assailants riding on motorbikes emerged at ‘Kaka Saeen Hotel’ near Mustafa Park within the remit of the Pinyari police station, opened indiscriminate fire on Zubair alias Jibbi and Asif Ghauri alias Chian and rode away.

Suffering multiple bullet wounds, both the men were taken to the Liaquat University Hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

Police Surgeon Dr Mohammad Wasim said Zubair and Asif suffered 22 and 12 bullet wounds, respectively.

MQM-P lawmaker accused of involvement in double murder

Hyderabad SSP Adeel Hussain Chandio told Dawn that initial investigations revealed that Zubair was recently released from prison after serving life imprisonment in the murder case of one Rafiq Qureshi alias Bholu.

He said the double murder was allegedly carried out by Bholu’s nephews. However, further investigations were underway, he said.

Relatives and friends of the deceased along with a large number of residents of the area arrived at the mortuary. They tried to attack a suspect Mukhtar – who happened to be spotted outside the mortuary. Policemen from Market police station locked him in MLO’s office. Until a police mobile arrived he remained present there. Market police then shifted him to undisclosed location.

According to Siraj Qureshi, Zubair’s elder brother Mukhtar was the nephew of one Rafiq councilor who was connected to the matter. He and his brothers, Muzamil and Nisar, accused an MQM-P’s Sindh Assembly member from the area, Nasir Qureshi, of being involved in the double murder. But the MPA outright dismissed the charges.

“Rafiq councilor and his henchmen were visiting the area of Mustafa Park where Zubair was building a monument in memory of Pakistan Army’s martyrs. I knew them personally and today they killed my brother,” Siraj shouted outside the mortuary. Siraj alleged that Nasir Qureshi was issuing them threats that they should not build the monument as an MQM’s plaque was also erected there. He claimed that the assailants were relatives of the lawmaker.

Muzamil told journalists in the hospital that the issue of old enmity had been settled in the past. He said now the MPA was objecting to building of the monument and that’s why threats were being issued. He said the assailants had been identified.

Nisar Qureshi, Zubair’s brother, told Dawn that Zubair was released from prison in this year’s Ramazan after serving life term in the murder case of Rafiq alias Bholu Qureshi who was gunned down in Paretabad around 15 years ago. He said Bholu’s supporters had tried to target him previously as well.

MPA Nasir Qureshi told Dawn on phone that Bholu Qureshi was indeed his distant relative, but Zubair was also his friend and he often approached him to seek help for different matters of the area for which he as MPA cooperated with him. He demanded transparent investigation of the double murder.

He rejected Siraj’s charges of issuing any sort of threat to Zubair and said the plaque of the MQM’s MPA pertained to the period early 2000 when Akram Adil was party’s MPA in Altaf Hussain-led MQM. “At that time I was studying in college and that plaque was fixed for development works,” he said. He later issued a formal statement as well.

Following the postmortem, the heirs placed the bodies near Akbar CNG in the area of Baldia police station in protest, blocking both sides of the National Highway. Police from different police stations was called.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2025