Unknown assailants killed a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz local leader and his father on Wednesday as the incidents of targeted killings continue to haunt the port city. A senior police official said the gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Defence Phase VII area, killing Mian Taimur, Joint Secretary of the Nawaz Sharif-led party and his father Mian Arbab. The bodies were shifted to a private hospital where a large number of PML-N activists gathered and protested the double murder.
PML-N Sindh chapter leaders Saleem Zia and Nihal Hashmi condemned the killing of the party leader.
Angry protesters took to the streets and burnt tyres and blocked roads near Kalapul. Some of the protesters were seen firing shots in the air. When asked whether the party would request the workers to remain peaceful over the killing, Saleem Zia and Nihal Hashmi said although they would definitely do so, however, it was difficult to obey such request in the aftermath of such a horrific incident. PML-N President Nawaz Sharif condemned the killings and demanded arrest of the accused. He also cancelled a meeting of Sindh PML-N leadership scheduled for Thursday.
Killings ‘conspiracy against peace’
The co-ordination committee of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has said that numerous killings including PML-N’s Joint Secretary Mian Taimur and his father in the metropolis is ‘a conspiracy against peace’. In a statement issued here, the rabta committee condemned the incident of violence wherein Mian Taimur and his father were killed in a drive-by shooting incident. Mian Taimur and Mian Arbab of PML-N were riding their car late night on Wednesday when unidentified gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on the vehicle. Both the father and son were critically injured and later died in a private hospital. The incident took place in Khayaban-e-Jami Phase-VII, Defence within the limits of Gizri police station.
The rabta committee said terrorists were enemies of the nation and the country and they were out on the rampage killing political workers and leaders to serve their own purposes.
The muttahida’s committee demanded the president and the prime minister to issue orders for the immediate arrest of saboteurs.