Sectarian Violence in Sindh - 2009

Date

Incident

January 20

In a suspected sectarian incident, unidentified gunmen shot dead a shop owner from the Ahmadiyya community outside his house in the Kotri District. The 55-year-old man had no rivalries and had been killed because of his faith, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya community claimed in a press release. He said Saeed Ahmed ran a small shop in the Uthwal area of the District and had just reached home when he was killed at his doorstep. Two Ahmadis had been killed in similar but separate shooting incidents in Sindh in 2008, after a fatwa (religious edict) against the community.

April 15

A 28-year-old sectarian worker-turned-lawyer was shot dead near Hamdard Dawakhana off the arterial M.A. Jinnah Road in Karachi, Dawn reported. Police said the victim, Mazharul Islam, was a former member of the banned Sunni outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and was on his way on his bike when at around 3.15pm two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on him. The victim was a junior attorney with Maqbool Ahmed, a senior criminal lawyer who has mainly appeared as the defence counsel in several sectarian killing cases against the workers of the banned SSP and its militant wing, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Area Station House Officer, Inspector Kanson Dean, said "It is definitely a targeted killing." Meanwhile, sources said the former SSP cadre was arrested in 2002 and released from jail in 2007. They said he was booked in three cases pertaining to possession of explosives, illegal weapons and an attempt to kill Policemen to avoid arrest.

May 24

A senior activist of the banned SSP was shot dead in a target killing. 40-year old Allauddin was the Lines Area Unit in-charge of the banned Sunni outfit, and had earlier worked for the LeJ. A source in the Criminal Investigation Department told that the deceased was currently engaged in re-organising the SSP in Karachi. Following the incident, participants of Allauddin’s funeral prayers started shooting guns in the air outside Imambargah-e-Ali Raza. Subsequently, dozens of people belonging to the Fiqa-e-Jafferia gathered on the road and started rioting by burning tyres and pelting stones on passing vehicles.

Another activist of the banned Sunni outfit SSP was shot dead in the Aziz Bhatti Police limits of Karachi within three days of the murder of another SSP activist. The incident sparked tension in Gulshan Town, as armed men resorted to aerial firing, forced the shopkeepers to pull down shutters and also attacked Imambargahs (Shia places of worship) in the area. 38-year old Qari Amanullah was shot dead while his son Sufian was injured by two gunmen near a Tandur in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. According to Police, the deceased was a former Sipah-e-Sahaba unit in-charge.

At least three persons sustained bullet injuries during a sectarian clash, which erupted at Iftar (fast breaking evening meal) time in the precincts of Soldier Bazaar Police Station at Karachi. The clash took place between the Shia community and people belonging to the Deobandi school of thought over the use of loudspeaker during Iftar time.

In a suspected sectarian incident, the general secretary of the banned Sunni outfit SSP Karachi chapter, Engineer Ilyas Zubair, was shot dead and provincial information secretary, Qari Shafiqur Rehman Alvi, wounded at Teen Hatti under the Jamshed Quarters Police Station jurisdiction in Karachi. The two men were going to a mosque near Teen Hatti shrine, when unidentified men on a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at them.

December 7

The leader of Pasban-e-Aza, a Shia organization was shot dead by unidentified militants in a suspected sectarian attack in the remit of the Brigade Police Station of Karachi. The slain leader was identified as Syed Shahid Hussain. Police quoting eyewitnesses said three unidentified suspects barged into Hussain’s apartment in the Assistant Commissioner Apartments, and opened fire on him using 9-mm pistols.