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KARACHI: MQM Sindh Assembly MPA Raza Haider was assassinated along with his bodyguards while attending a funeral in Karachi’s Nazimabad No. 2 area on Monday, Dawn.com reported.
Initial reports suggest that he was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles were reported to be responsible for the killing.
The MQM leader was elected as an MPA from the PS-94 constituency in Karachi’s Orangi Town Area. Mr. Haider was a member of the Sindh Assembly and was associated with the MQM for the past 26 years.
After the assassination, incidents of aerial firing were reported from various areas in Karachi, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B Area, Orangi Town, Nazimabad.
A passenger bus was burned down on Abu Hassan Isphani road in Karachi.
Panic prevailed in the city where major markets have been shut down and traffic jams reported across the city.
MQM’s MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi has condemned the killing and appealed for calm in the city.
Interior minister Rehman Malik has also condemned the killing of the MPA Raza Haider, who accused banned outfit, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan for the assassination while talking to reporters at Parliament House.
Malik said there were reports of threat to the life of Raza Haider, which were conveyed to certain high offices, “We also report that Sipah-i-Sahaba had issued him [Haider] threats.”
Malik said the way Sipah-i-Sahaba was targeting Shias elsewhere in the country lent credence to its involvement in this heinous crime. He was saddened to learn about this tragic incident, and had talked to ANP leader Asfandyar Wali, who had also condemned it, added Malik
Rehman Malik said the perpetrators of this act want to destablise Karachi, which amounts to instability the rest of the country. He appealed to MQM not to be trapped by those elements, who did not want to see peace in Karachi, assuring “we shall definitely apprehend the killers.”
Malik also asked MQM leader Altaf Hussain to appeal to his party workers to stay calm.
The minister said the elements behind this incident wanted to create rifts between ANP and MQM.
“He had gone to attend a relative’s funeral. Drive-by shooters attacked him near a mosque, injuring him and his guard seriously,” police official Waqar Mallan told AFP.
“He died on his way to hospital. It is a targeted killing.” Jameel Soomro, spokesman for the Sindh provincial government, said the killing of a coalition MP was a part of a broader “conspiracy”.
“The country is in the grip of natural calamities and we are fighting against terrorists. At this moment, conspirators want to destabilise Karachi, which is the financial engine of Pakistan,” he said.
He did not elaborate, but accused the conspirators of trying to further ethnic tensions and trigger political violence in Karachi. – DAWN.COM/AGENCIES/AFP
Initial reports suggest that he was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles were reported to be responsible for the killing.
The MQM leader was elected as an MPA from the PS-94 constituency in Karachi’s Orangi Town Area. Mr. Haider was a member of the Sindh Assembly and was associated with the MQM for the past 26 years.
After the assassination, incidents of aerial firing were reported from various areas in Karachi, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B Area, Orangi Town, Nazimabad.
A passenger bus was burned down on Abu Hassan Isphani road in Karachi.
Panic prevailed in the city where major markets have been shut down and traffic jams reported across the city.
MQM’s MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi has condemned the killing and appealed for calm in the city.
Interior minister Rehman Malik has also condemned the killing of the MPA Raza Haider, who accused banned outfit, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan for the assassination while talking to reporters at Parliament House.
Malik said there were reports of threat to the life of Raza Haider, which were conveyed to certain high offices, “We also report that Sipah-i-Sahaba had issued him [Haider] threats.”
Malik said the way Sipah-i-Sahaba was targeting Shias elsewhere in the country lent credence to its involvement in this heinous crime. He was saddened to learn about this tragic incident, and had talked to ANP leader Asfandyar Wali, who had also condemned it, added Malik
Rehman Malik said the perpetrators of this act want to destablise Karachi, which amounts to instability the rest of the country. He appealed to MQM not to be trapped by those elements, who did not want to see peace in Karachi, assuring “we shall definitely apprehend the killers.”
Malik also asked MQM leader Altaf Hussain to appeal to his party workers to stay calm.
The minister said the elements behind this incident wanted to create rifts between ANP and MQM.
“He had gone to attend a relative’s funeral. Drive-by shooters attacked him near a mosque, injuring him and his guard seriously,” police official Waqar Mallan told AFP.
“He died on his way to hospital. It is a targeted killing.” Jameel Soomro, spokesman for the Sindh provincial government, said the killing of a coalition MP was a part of a broader “conspiracy”.
“The country is in the grip of natural calamities and we are fighting against terrorists. At this moment, conspirators want to destabilise Karachi, which is the financial engine of Pakistan,” he said.
He did not elaborate, but accused the conspirators of trying to further ethnic tensions and trigger political violence in Karachi. – DAWN.COM/AGENCIES/AFP
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