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Violence continues in aftermath of SSP leader’s killing
By Faraz Khan
KARACHI: Two more members of the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), including a security guard of a party leader Maulana Ghafoor Nadeem, were killed and two others injured in the violence following the murder of the party’s legal adviser, Hafiz Ahmed Bux Advocate, and his driver.
Tension continued to prevail in Model Colony, Saudabad, Malir, Kala Board and various other areas of the city, a day after the SSP leader’s assassination.
Angry participants of the slain leader’s funeral prayers forced shopkeepers to pull down their shutter in protest against the killing of their leader.
An SSP man died, two others were injured in the limits of Saudabad police station, during crossfire with the their rival sect when they reached there to force shops to close down.
Ghufran Khan, son of Ghulam Sarwar, a resident of Future Colony, Landhi, and Saqib, son of Fayyaz and Arshad, son of Farooq received bullet injuries. They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Ghufran succumbed to his injuries, Arshad was discharged, while Saqib was admitted to the hospital.
The deceased Ghufran was said to be a brother of SSP leader Hafiz Amanullah, a prayer leader, who was killed in an incident of target killing some two months back in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town.
Meanwhile, the body of an SSP man found in Model Colony area. He was identified as Anwar Ali, alias Murad TT, 26, a resident of Orangi Town. He was said to be a personal security guard of SSP central leader Maulana Ghafoor Nadeem. A senior official told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that Anwar was a prominent name in the SSP and was involved in various cases of sectarian violence. He was released in 2007 after being imprisoned in jail for at least four years.
Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) of Saudabad, DSP Farooq Sher Zaman, while talking to Daily Times also confirmed the kidnapping of the deceased Anwar, when he went along with other SSP men to the RCG ground in Malir.
The DSP said Anwar was brutally tortured before being shot in the head with a small weapon. He was then dumped at a spot in the Model Colony area.
Talking about the violence in which another SSP man was killed, the DSP said he had appealed to the shopkeepers of the area to keep their shops closed to avoid any untoward incident during the funeral occasion. “But the tension escalated when the SSP men went to adjacent area Malir, which is not in my jurisdiction and where they tried to force shops to close down. The people there opened fire on them and therefore this incident took place,” the officer explained.
Registration of cases: Two separate FIRs of the SSP men’s killing, including that of Hafiz Bux’s murder, have been registered in two separate police stations against unidentified persons by their relatives, while the remaining one was yet to be registered.
In Hafiz Bux advocate’s killing, an FIR was registered on behalf of the deceased’s younger brother, Mohammad Siddiq, in Model Colony police station and an FIR was registered in Saudabad police station for Ghufran’s killing on behalf of deceased’s brother, Malik Awan. The FIR of Anwar’s killing was yet to be registered in the Model Colony police station.
SSP leader condemns killings: SSP leader Maulana Ilyas Zubair, who is the former SSP provincial legal adviser and general secretary, told Daily Times that the party would announce a future course of action regarding the killings of its activists today (Friday).
“There should be a limit to injustice. If our activists crossed their limits, they could not only disturb peace in Karachi, but also in the whole country. And we certainly do not want that as we want peace in country. However, just as we love our country, we also hold our party workers dear. Therefore, the government and the LEAs should play their role and bring a stop to these killings.”
He also said, “It is not only the SSP workers dying but also other political workers and policeman are being killed too. I will not name those who are killing our workers as everyone knows who they are. We are not at war with anyone but if somebody wants to wage a war with us, we are prepared to fight.” He said the party would decide the future course of action in a meeting tonight, and today (Friday) the SSP would hold a protest demonstration outside the press club, where it would announce its decision.
Daiy Times:July17,2009
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