MUZAFFARABAD, March 19: A former minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was shot dead in the southern town of Mirpur on Wednesday and police suspect it to be a case of target killing.

Chaudhry Ali Mohammad Chacha, a senior practising lawyer, was leaving his home in the town’s F-2 sector for the district courts, along with a client, when he was attacked, SSP Yasin Qureshi told Dawn.

“Before getting into his car, he asked his son to get some books from inside.

At that time, two men appeared on the scene and shot at him with 30-bore pistols,” he said, quoting members of the deceased lawyer’s family.

He was rushed to the nearby district headquarters hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

“It looks like a target killing. But it is being investigated by a team headed by additional SP Chaudhry Munir,” said Mr Qureshi.

He said the accused, later identified as Sajid Soomro of Shikarpur and Ali Jan Soomro of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi, tried to run away but were overpowered by local people and handed over to police.

The accused also shot at and injured a motorcyclist who had tried to chase them. Moments later they struck a car coming from the opposite direction and were overpowered by a large number of people.

The body of the slain lawyer was handed over to his family after post-mortem. The burial would take place in his ancestral Chatro village on Thursday afternoon.

Chaudhry Ali Chach, 63, was the minister of law from July, 1996, to Jan, 2000, in the Pakistan People’s Party’s government.

In an earlier short-lived PPAJK government of 1990-1991, he had held the office of advocate general.

He was twice elected president of the District Bar Association Mirpur. Shortly before the July 2006 general elections in AJK, he joined the Muslim Conference.