Lawyer Gunned Down Near Hasan Square in Karachi
An advocate of the Sindh High Court and former joint secretary of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) was gunned down last Friday evening.
Syed Ameer Hyder Shah, 35, was shot near Hasan Square, while his assistant, Shahid Chandio, who accompanied him in his car, remained safe, according to Gulshan SP Abid Qaimkhani.
While Syed Ameer Hyder Shah was driving home from the City Courts, three suspects riding a motorcycle attacked him. He was shot seven times and was rushed to a nearby private hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. The body was later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a postmortem examination.
As a result of this news, the legal fraternity announced that lawyers across the province would boycott court proceedings on Saturday and Monday in protest against the killing.
According to the police, there are two main possible motives for the killing: Firstly, it could be linked to his professional work as the victim being a lawyer reportedly pleaded terrorism cases and the lawyer had also pleaded some political and land grabbing cases in courts; secondly, the fact that the lawyer was a member of the Shia community, could have been a reason why he was targeted.
The legal fraternity announced a two-day province-wide boycott of court proceedings in protest against the lawyer’s killing. According to the Karachi Bar Association, which gave the call for courts boycott for Saturday, the victim had served as KBA’s joint secretary last year. Mr. Shah is the fourth lawyer who has been a victim of targeted killings so far this year in Karachi. He was the fourth lawyer falling prey to targeted killings this year in Karachi.
The Malir Bar Association also supported the KBA’s protest call. Later, the Sindh Bar Council announced that lawyers across the province would observe a boycott of courts on Saturday and Monday against the murder.
Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali organized a special investigation team, led by the Additional IG Karachi, to analyse the murder of Advocate Shah.
The DIG counter-terrorism department, DIG East, SSP East and SSP East Investigation are part of the investigation team. In addition, the police chief issued a directive to the team to immediately start the investigation and submit a preliminary report within 24 hours.
Lastly, The Rangers are conducting raids on a daily basis in the city and arresting scores of suspects from different areas as part of their ongoing operation against criminals and terrorists.
