Karachi: 20 lawyers killed in 2011

KARACHI: Most part of the year 2011 had been full of tragedies for the legal fraternity that lost its 20 members in target killing incidents. Most of these victims were either leaving for work or returning home in the evening and among them 15 lawyers were killed in the metropolis, while five were murdered in interior Sindh, according to the outgoing General Secretary Karachi Bar Association Haider Imam Rizvi.

Sardar Mohammad Zulfiqar advocate was the first victim to be killed in the first month of the ending year, followed by Hanif Khan.

Mohamad Iqbal Tariq advocate was killed on Eid day while Waheed-ur-Rehman was murdered in the month of October. Mohammed Junaid advocate was killed on August 8 while he was going home in the evening, followed by Faheem Riaz Siddiqui and Saleem Bhatti advocates, who were shot dead on August 11.

Mukhtar Abbas Bukhair was shot dead on July 25 while he too was on his way back home. Zia Alam, a senior PPP leader and an advocate, was killed on June 13 while returning to his home in the evening.

Two advocate brothers – Altaf Hussain Abbas and Nazar Hussain Abbas – were also shot dead while they were returning home on May 21. Another lawyer Mohammed Kamal was killed while sitting outside his residence on May 31.

Ali Mohammed Dahiri, Vice Chairman Sindh Bar Council, was killed in Nawabshah on April 28 when he was going to his office. His grandson was also killed in that ambush. Advocate Rana Shamshad was injured on April 24. Another lawyer associated with Awami National Party was shot dead on March 20. Advocate Liaquat Qureshi was also killed in 2011.

Fahim Riazuddin Siddiqui and a young lawyer Murtaza Chinoy were killed in the month of March. Fahim was an adviser in KESC, while Murtaza Chinoy was killed while attending his clients at his office.

The lawyers protested outside the CM House to condemn the targeted killings. The legal fraternity became a party to the suo-moto notice taken by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry against the rising incidents of targeted killings. It was with the KBA protest that the CJP took notice of the issue and normalcy returned to the city that also stemmed the wave of lawyers’ killings.

The original article can be found at The News.

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