No murder case has yet been registered over the infamous and gruesome murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Karachi leader Zahra Shahid Hussain.
Post mortem reports on Sunday at the Jinnah Hospital indicated two close-range bullets fired at the deceased PTI leader outside her house on Saturday night.
According to medico legal officer Dr Nasreen Qamar, 60-year-old Zahra was shot at close range with two 30-bore bullets, one of which pierced her head via her jaw, while the other one hit close to her lower spine. Two missed bullets hit her home’s gate.
SSP Nasir Aftab announced that a first information report (FIR) against her murder would be filed by the deceased’s kin, after legal counseling.
Meanwhile, Zahra Shahid Hussains’ funeral prayers were offered at Sultan Masjid after Asar prayers on Sunday in Karachi. She was laid to rest at a graveyard in Defence.
Some 1,000 mourners including Hussain’s family members, friends, well wishers and party workers attended her funeral.
At least 200 party activists also held a protest rally in Multan and condemned Hussain’s killing.
The PTI will take out protests over Shahid’s killing in Karachi on Monday.
“Zohra Hussain’s sacrifice will not go waste,” PTI Chairman Imran Khan said.
The killing of Hussain, who was vice president of the women’s wing of PTI in Sindh, came on the eve of a partial re-poll of the May 11 election.
Imran Khan was quick to pin the blame on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain.
“I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts,” Khan said on his Twitter feed, describing the killing as “a targeted act of terror”.
“I also hold the British government responsible as I had warned them about Altaf Hussain after his open threats to kill PTI workers,” he said, adding that he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the brutal killing”.
Altaf Hussain condemned the attack in a statement and demanded a “judicial inquiry to get to the culprits”.
Firdous Shamim, a local PTI leader, said Zahra Hussain “was leaving her home for some work when three gunmen attacked her. She thought they wanted to snatch her purse and handed it over to them but they killed her despite that”.
Police said all three gunmen escaped after the attack.
The motive behind the shooting was unclear and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Tensions have been running high between the PTI and the MQM, Karachi’s dominant party, after Khan’s party accused it of widespread vote-rigging. The MQM has denied the charge and announced a boycott of the re-run. Security was tight for Sunday’s re-polling in NA-250 following allegations of ballot-stuffing, with troops, police and paramilitary rangers backed up by armoured personnel carriers.
