KARACHI - Wave of killings has once again gripped Karachi as two people including social activist Khurram Zaki were gunned down in the city on Sunday.
Zaki was having a dinner at a restaurant in North Karachi when four unknown armed assailants riding two motorbikes sprayed him with bullets. The victim died on the spot. Two other persons also sustained critical injuries in the attack. Being informed, forensic teams reached the crime scene and collected evidence from the area.
Relatives of slain social activist Khurram Zaki while protesting against his killing headed towards Chief Minister House alongwith the dead body. In wake of the protest, police sealed all the routes towards the CM House by placing blockades and has tightened security. The roads going to Sadar from MA Jinnah Road were also been shut down.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has a report from IG Sindh about killing of social activist Khurram Zaki. He directed the police to arrest the culprits involved in murder of Zaki.
The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Central said that 19 bullet shells of a 9mm pistol were recovered from the crime scene and further investigation was underway.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also took serious notice of the murder and directed the authorities concerned to ferret out the culprits, bringing them to book at the earliest. He paid tributes to the slain civil society activist who always stood against injustices and atrocities against the innocent people in the country. He expressed sympathy with the family of Khurram Zaki and assured them that the killers won’t be spared. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen and other political and religious parties condemned the incident and demanded the government to bring the assailants to justice.
Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial has also taken notice of the incident and sought report from the police high-ups within 48 hours.
Following the incident, a mob carrying body of Zaki reached the Chief Minister House and staged protest. Former journalist, Zaki was an active campaigner for human rights and the editor of the website and Facebook page Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) which claimed to "spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms".
Zaki’s Twitter profile describes he was the former head of current affairs for a private news channel, where he looked after infotainment and religious programming. Zaki had also registered a complaint along with other rights activists against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.
In his complaint, Zaki had stated that Maulana Aziz and Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid released a video message in which he attempted to incite sectarian hatred and violence against Shia community people by blaming them for leading the civil society campaign against him.
A spokesperson of the Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) said that Khurram Zaki, 40, was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels.
The MWM spokesperson said they believed that banned sectarian outfits were involved in this gruesome murder.
In a separate incident, body of a woman was found from a home in Defence Khayyaban-e-Shujat area. According to the rescue sources, the female was killed by firing. Further investigation was underway. Separately, two other people were injured after a clash occurred between two groups on aerial firing during a wedding. They were hurried to a nearby hospital, but one of them succumbed to injuries on the way.