KARACHI: A Jamaat-i-Islami activist was shot dead while resisting a robbery bid in Orangi Town on Wednesday, police said, but the JI claimed that its worker was targeted for political reasons.

“Apparently 27-year-old Shayan Yunus was killed by robbers outside his home for putting up resistance to robbers,” said Karachi-West SSP Azfar Mahesar.

The officer added that if the party had any information about the motive for the murder other than robbery, they did not share it with the police.

However, the JI spokesperson in a statement said that the victim was killed by ‘terrorists’.

Iqbal Market police SHO Ghulam Rasool Rajpar said that Shayan was standing outside his home in Sector-11 ½ when armed motorcyclists tried to snatch a mobile phone from him. When he put up resistance, the suspects opened fire on him and fled without taking anything from him. He sustained critical wounds and died during treatment in hospital.

Later, JI workers and the deceased’s relatives blocked main Shahrah-i-Orangi in a protest, where vehicular traffic was suspended for a considerable period of time.

The Sindh JI chief, Dr Meraj-ul-Huda, led his funeral prayers on Shahrah-i-Orangi and later on speaking to the workers, he asked the Sindh government to arrest the culprits within 24 hours, or otherwise, the party would be compelled to take what he described as an ‘extreme action’.

Published in Dawn December 11th , 2014