PESHAWAR: A government employee was killed in Yakatoot area here on Monday in what the police claimed a sectarian attack.

The relevant police officials said two motorcyclists opened fire on Malik Iftikhar Ali Haider, a member of Shia community, near Kohati Gate at around 8am killing him instantly.

They said the deceased, 50, lived in Marviha area and worked at a Kohat Road technical college.

The police officials said they conducted a search operation in the area but made no arrests.

The counter-terrorism department later registered a case and began investigation.

Mr. Haider’s brother, Malik Jarrar, too, was gunned down in the city in October last year when he was taking his children to the school.

Two daughters of Mr. Jarrar, an employee of the Afghan commissionerate, suffered minor injuries in the attack.

A neighbour told Dawn that Mr. Iftikhar was gunned down shortly after the accompanying son left him at Kohati Chowk to return home.

He said the son rushed back when he heard gunshots, and found his father lying in a pool of blood.

The neighbour said Mr. Iftikhar worked at the Civil Secretariat before he was transferred to the Kohat Road technical college.

He said he didn’t know if the deceased or his other family members received any death threats.

In a statement issued here, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen provincial general secretary Allama Syed Sibtain Hussaini condemned the killing and insisted the deceased was an active member of his organisation.

He said the government had failed to protect the lives of the members of Shia community.

Mr. Hussaini said such killings would continue to happen until the government made concerted efforts to eliminate the menace of sectarian terrorism from the country.

He demanded the immediate arrest of killers and exemplary punishment.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016