According to Orangi Town Superintendent of Police Abdul Haseeb Baig, JUI-F leaders Maulana Abdul Hafiz, 48, and Qari Ejaz Mashwani, 52, and SI Ghulam Ali of Peerabad investigation were at a battery shop - owned and run by SSP activist Muhammad Ahmed and located at Binori Chowk in Sector 4-F of Orangi Town - when three unidentified suspects opened fire on them with 9mm pistols and killed Mashwani on the spot.
However, JUI-F’s Hafiz, SI Ali and SSP’s Ahmed were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Hafiz succumbed to injuries.
After the incident, enraged JUI-F activists and madrassa students took to the streets in Pathan Colony, Manghopir and Frontier Colony.
They blocked the roads and pelted passers-by and on-duty policemen with stones. They also chanted anti-government slogans.
JUI-F Information Secretary Qari Usman termed the incident as target killing and demanded the arrest of the culprits.
“The government has failed to provide security to the ulemas and the recent target killings of religious scholars will badly affect the law and order situation in the country if the government did not arrest the killers,” Usman said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Majeed Abbas agreed that it
was an incident of target killing and the suspects
might have wanted to kill SSP’s Ahmed.
Responding to a question, the DSP said some batteries had been stolen a few days earlier and SI Ali was at the battery shop to investigate the case.
He also said Rangers and police personnel reached the tense areas to control the situation as soon as they received information about the demonstrations. The areas are under control now, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that Hafiz was the JUI-F head in Orangi Town and the resident of Bijli Nagar in Sector 4 of the same area.
He had been managing two madrassas there, namely Jamia Siddique Akbar and Jamia Rehmania. He hailed from Mansehra and had 11 children.
Mashwani was the JUI-F Amir of Union Council 6 in SITE Town and the resident of Mominabad. He hailed from Haripur.
JUI-F leaders’ funeral prayers were offered in Bijli Nagar and were attended by a large number of party activists and area people amid tight security.
Hafiz was laid to rest at a local graveyard in Orangi Town, while Mashwani’s body would be taken
to Haripur.
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