KARACHI: A Pakistan People’s Party covering candidate for the provincial assembly constituency PS-95 was shot dead in a targeted attack in Orangi Town on Tuesday evening days after he filed his nomination papers for the upcoming general elections, police and party sources said.

Earlier, two activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and an Imambargah administrator were killed in targeted attacks in different parts of the city on Tuesday, police said.

It was just after sunset when PPP candidate Adnan Aslam, son of an area leader of the party, was gunned down near his under-construction house in Orangi Town, the police said.

They said that armed men fired at 28-year-old Adnan Aslam in Sector 6-C while he was talking to labourers near the site.

“There were three men riding a motorbike and one of whom targeted Adnan,” said an official at the Orangi Town police station. “He sustained two bullet wounds and died on the spot.”

The official said he was a son of PPP area leader Mohammad Aslam.

The PPP spokesperson condemned the killing and said that Adnan was targeted because of his political association.

He said: “Mohammad Aslam is the party’s vice president of the PS-95 constituency and his son was a covering candidate for general elections.”

The spokesperson said that the incident was an attempt to hit city peace just weeks before the general elections.

Two Muttahida activists killed

Two activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement were killed in separate attacks in Orangi Town and Pak Colony on Tuesday, police said.

One of the MQM activists was killed in Orangi Town while he was riding home, the area police said.

They added that armed men riding a motorbike targeted 52-year-old Abdul Hafeez in Sector 7-C near the Qatar Hospital and sped away.

“The victim sustained two bullet wounds and died while being treated at the Qatar Hospital,” said an official at the Orangi Town police station.

“He was an employee of the Qatar Hospital and known MQM worker associated with Unit 122-A of the party’s organisational structure. He was a former officer-bearer of the party’s medical aid committee.”

Tension gripped parts of Orangi Town after the killing prompting immediate closure of businesses. However, the police remained clueless about the hit men and the motive for the killing.

Another MQM activist met the same fate in Pak Colony in an attack on a barber shop that also left a 12-year-old boy wounded.

An official at the Shershah police station said that 31-year-old Asif Ansari was waiting for his turn at the barber shop in Street No 6 in Pak Colony along Jinnah Road when armed men riding a motorbike pulled up there. “One of the riders entered the shop, pulled out a pistol and fired multiple shots at Arif,” said an official.

“He received three bullets. Another bullet grazed the body of 12-year-old Shariq. Both were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Arif died.”

The official said that the deceased activist was the finance secretary of the MQM Unit 192 in Pak Colony but was not sure about the motive for the attack.

Sectarian attack

In Malir, a 52-year-old administrator of Imambargah Hussaini Qadeem, Syed Ashraf Hussain Zaidi, was gunned down at his shop apparently on sectarian grounds, the area police said.

They added that two men riding a motorbike fired multiple shots at Ashraf Zaidi and fled.

“The victim sustained seven bullet wounds and died on the spot,” said an official at the Malir City police station.

He said the shop was situated near Malir Mandir, a few yards from the Malir 15 traffic intersection.

“He was a resident of the area and well known in the neighbourhood.

“The body was handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).”

The police official said that the killing seemed to be linked to the ongoing wave of targeted attacks on sectarian grounds.

A spokesman for the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) condemned the killing of Mr Zaidi and called it a failure of the government and security administration. “Killings on sectarian grounds have become a matter of routine, with not a single arrest despite frequent promises from the government,” he said.

The MWM leader said the funeral of the victim was held at the Malir 15 traffic intersection.

Mr Zaidi was father of two, he added.