Religious scholar injured in Orangi Town gun attack

A religious cleric was wounded in a gun attack in Orangi Town on Wednesday. Scholar Mufti Saleemullah Khan, 40, son of Pasand Khan, the head of the Salim Academy in MPR Colony, was shot and injured on Manghopir Road.

Police said two suspects riding a motorcycle opened fire at a white-coloured Toyota Corolla car, in which Khan, his wife, children and other relatives riding. The scholar was injured and immediately taken to a private hospital in North Nazimabad. Luckily, his family members escaped unhurt.

West Zone DIG Asim Qaimkhani told media persons that Mufti Saleemullah was shot twice, in his abdomen and back. According to a witness, the car stopped after the firing incident. “I broke the window of the car, pulled out the injured person from a car and told him that he had suffered bullet injuries,” the witness said.

Mufti Saleemullah’s son told media persons that after the shooting, his father himself drove the car to the hospital. The witness further said that the suspects, who were wearing caps, also opened fire at dogs when the dogs started barking and chasing them.

Investigators have obtained CCTV footage in which the suspects on a motorcycle can be seen following the victim’s car and opening fire at the vehicle. Police said they were recording the statements of witnesses and also conducting the geo-fencing of the area to trace and arrest the culprits. No case had been registered till the filing of this report on Wednesday night.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) has said Mufti Saleemullah is affiliated with it. According to a press release issued by JUI-F deputy secretary for information Sami Swati, a delegation of the party met District West SSP Suhai Aziz, and termed the attack a preplanned conspiracy.

They demanded arresting the suspects immediately. The delegation informed the SSP West that JUI-F local leader Haji Akram Agha was also killed last week in MPR Colony, but his murderers were yet to be arrested.

“Attacking religious clerics in the broad daylight incidents is a question mark on the performance of the law enforcement agencies,” the statement stated. “We will not tolerate more attacks on religious clerics and scholars.”

This is not the first incident to have occurred in the city as a number of incidents have taken place in Karachi in which criminals have targeted religious personalities.

On November 1 last year, a prayer leader was shot and injured in the Jamshed Quarters area. The injured person was identified as 46-year-old Mufti Abdullah, the prayer leader of the Subhania Masjid.

On October 10, in a gruesome tragedy, renowned Sunni religious scholar Maulana Prof Dr Muhammad Adil Khan and his driver were shot dead in Shah Faisal Colony.

“Maulana Adil Khan, accompanied by a driver, lost his life after attackers opened fire at his double-cabin vehicle in Shah Faisal Colony, Karachi,” says Zone East police chief DIG Noman Siddiqui. “The assailants targeted him near Shama Shopping Centre in Shah Faisal Colony.”

Adil was the head of the Jamia Farooqia seminary. He was on his way to his residence on Hub River Road from Darul Uloom, Korangi, when the assailants targeted him.

Maulana Adil Khan and his driver were sitting in an SUV after Maulana’s son, Mufti Umair, had gone to buy sweets from a shop at Shama Shopping Centre, when the tragic incident took place.

His driver, Maqsood Ahmed, 42, also lost his life in the attack. Maulana Adil’s son remained unhurt. The attackers fled from the scene.

The son of the late renounced religious scholar, Maulana Saleemullah Khan, 62-year-old Maulana Adil, was the president of the Farooqia University, located in Shah Faisal Colony 4. The police and ambulance services reached the crime scene and rushed the casualties to Liaquat National Hospital, where the doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.