KARACHI, April 27: Shops, markets and shopping centres in various parts of the city remained closed on Saturday to mourn the death of two leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Mustapha Kamal Rizvi, a former senator, and Dr Nishat Malick, a former member of the National Assembly, leaders of the Muttahida, were sprayed with bullets and their bodies dumped on a street in Sunset Boulevard in Defence Housing Authority on late Friday night.

People were shocked and grieved over the killings. In a gesture of mourning and protest commercial and business activities remained suspended on Saturday in various parts of the city, especially in Muttahida-dominated areas, including Federal B-Area, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, North Karachi, Nazimabad, etc. Shops and markets on Tariq Road and in other commercial areas also remained shut on Saturday.

Heavy police deployment was made in the city and police mobile patrolled various thoroughfares and roads to maintain law and order.

Funeral prayers of the slain leaders were offered in Jinnah Ground in Azizabad near the headquarters of the Muttahida. A large number of people, including leaders of the Muttahida and of other parties, government officials, relations, and friends, attended the funeral prayers.

Mustapha Kamal Rizvi was laid to rest in Sakhi Hasan graveyard in North Nazimabad and Dr Nishat Malick in the Defence Housing Society graveyard.

Mustapha Kamal Rizvi, aged 44, a businessman, was arrested in 1992. He was elected senator in 1997 and remained a member of the senate till its suspension in October 1999.

He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Dr Nishat Malick, aged 47, was a well-known personality due to his expertise in sports medicine. He was a founding member and President of the Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan, a liaison officer of the Olympic Sport Committee and Secretary-General of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine. Dr Malick, born in Karachi, obtained his MBBS degree from Sindh University and post-graduate degrees from London, Vienna and Baltimore. He leaves behind his wife, a son and a daughter.

The chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Husain, in his condolence message, expressed sorrow and grief over the killings of the two leaders and alleged the establishment and secret agencies were behind the killing of Mustapha Rizvi and Dr Malick.

“When the Muttahida held a mammoth public meeting on August 8, 1986, the establishment and agencies were put off and they attacked participants of a public meeting on October 31, 1986 in Karachi and Hyderabad. The Muttahida again held a huge public meeting on April 19 this year which gave a lie to the establishment and agencies’s propaganda that the Muttahida’s popularity graph had fallen,” he recalled.

“The anti-Muttahida establishment and agencies could not see unity in Sindh, so they killed Dr Malick and Mustapha Rizvi,” Mr Husain said.

“Though Dr Malick and Mr Rizvi are no more among us, the people would never forget their martyrdom and they will remain alive in our hearts and thoughts. The people will remember them as the first who sacrificed their blood for the unity of Sindh,” he said.

He hoped that Sindh would get rid of the slavery of the establishment. He demanded of President Pervez Musharraf to bring the killers to book immediately.

Deputy Conveners of the MQM Coordination Committee, Aftab Shaikh, Dr Farooq Sattar, Nasreen Jalil and Shaikh Liaquat Husain, condemned the killings. They termed the incident an attempt to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the city.

They said the killings could be an attempt to sabotage the referendum for President Musharraf.

The motive for the killing of the two former legislators of the Muttahida could not be ascertained till Saturday, police said, adding they had taken the driver into custody, but the car, the two leaders were travelling in, was still missing.

Rasheed, driver of Mustapha Rizvi, had been taken into custody, who told police that Mr Rizvi dropped him near the Saudi Consulate before he (Rizvi) went to see Dr Malick, police said.

An investigation team, comprising DSP Rasheed Shah and DSP Umer Rasheed, under the supervision of SSP Homicide Manzoor Mughal, has been constituted to investigate the killings.

Sources in the investigation said Mr Rizvi had dropped his driver near the Saudi Consulate in Gizri around 9:30pm and told him that he would pick up Dr Nishat Malick for dinner. Mr Rizvi went to the residence of Dr Malick, picked him and they went somewhere for dinner. Mr Rizvi had telephone conversation with his wife around 11:30pm, and he asked her if she liked he would bring food for her.

It could not be ascertained yet where the two leaders had their dinner. The investigators were looking for the car, in which the two leaders were travelling. The sources said it could not be ascertained whether the two leaders had been kidnapped before they were shot dead, or the killers shot them to death and drove away the car.

The sources said Mr Rizvi suffered nine bullet wounds and Dr Malick three. The investigators claimed that they had established an initial presumption that the target was Mr Rizvi.