KARACHI, June 12: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has strongly condemned the killing of a brother of its former lawmaker in the Shershah scrap market and said that he was murdered for “refusing to pay the extortion money”.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the MQM coordination committee warned that if criminal elements and extortionists were not controlled then MQM workers, businessmen and the public might lose patience.

It said that armed terrorists and extortionists killed Syed Karrar Ali and wounded his brother, Syed Zakir Ali, in the same scrap market where they had earlier targeted several traders.

It deplored that criminal elements, extortionists and terrorists in Karachi had been given the licence to kill and it appeared that the people of Karachi had been left at their mercy.

The committee said that growing incidents of kidnapping for ransom, extortion and murder forced everyone to believe that the operation against criminal elements was a farce and that they still enjoyed the full support of the elements conspiring to wreck the city’s peace.

It warned criminals and terrorists against “getting intoxicated by the support from the elements conspiring to destroy the peace and order of Karachi”. If criminal activities continued unabated, people would stop listening to appeals for restraint from the MQM, it added.

The coordination committee appealed to MQM workers and other people to control their emotions and remain calm and peaceful.

It called upon the president, prime minister and others to take notice of Syed Karrar Ali’s murder for refusing to pay extortion money and bring his killers to book.

The MQM supported the strike call given by the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad for Wednesday and demanded the government provide full protection to the traders, said an MQM spokesman on Tuesday evening.