KARACHI, Sept 5: Chairman of the Islamic Research Centre Trust and veteran advertising practitioner Mukhtar Azmi and his son were killed while his grandson was critically wounded in a gun attack on University Road across the Civic Centre on Wednesday.

The killings sent ripples of shock and grief among the Shia community and media practitioners.

The family was coming in a car from their office in Saddar and heading home in Nazimabad No 4 when two armed men riding a motorbike targeted them between the old vegetable market and Edhi Centre office within the remit of the PIB Colony police station, said sub-divisional police officer of the area Nasir Lodhi.

“They targeted the family with ease, taking advantage of the slow-moving traffic,” he added.

“Mr Azmi, 74, sustained a gunshot wound to his head. His son, Mohammad Baqar Azmi, 45, was hit by a bullet in the chest and grandson Mohammad Ali sustained a gunshot wound in the neck,” said the police.

However, they added, the riders managed to escape despite the traffic jam.

As a result of the firing, both Mr Azmi and his son died on the spot while his grandson, Mohammad Ali, was rushed to a private hospital on Stadium Road where he was being operated upon, the police said.

“Both father and son died before they could be shifted to the hospital; they had suffered gunshot wounds in the head and neck,” the officer said.

The bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. Following the post-mortem examination, the bodies were taken to Imambargah Shah-i-Karbala, Rizvia, where a large number of people had gathered for funeral prayers.

Tension gripped the locality when the bodies were brought to the Imambargah.

Area residents said that the residence of Mr Azmi, father of five sons and two daughters, in Nazimabad was known as Al Abbas House.

“His granddaughter’s wedding was scheduled for Sept 6 and Mohammad Ali [the wounded victim] had returned from the US only a day ago to attend his cousin’s wedding,” said the victim’s neighbour.

While speaking to Dawn, Additional IG Karachi Iqbal Mehmood said: “The killing seems to have a sectarian colour but other possible angles are also being looked into.”

Meanwhile, Maulana Hasan Zafar Naqvi in a statement issued by Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen termed the killings a great loss for Millat-i-Jafria.

Describing the ongoing killings as the genocide of the Shias, he said the community would have to resort to extreme steps now.

Expressing profound grief over the targeted killing, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society stated Mr Azmi was a veteran advertising practitioner and proprietor of MAZ Advertising. He had worked in some ad agencies in different capacities and took active part in the promotion of the advertising industry in the country. He remained office-bearer of the Pakistan Advertising Association for many terms.

The APNS urged the chief minister and police chief to ensure that culprits were arrested forthwith.