KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s southern Karachi port city said on Wednesday a local religious scholar Maulana Zia-ur-Rehman was fatally shot while taking an evening stroll in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighborhood, adding they suspect Indian intelligence involvement in the case.
According to details, the attack was carried out by unidentified individuals on a motorbike who opened fire on the cleric at a park which he regularly visited.
“Unknown assailants riding a motorcycle shot the cleric and escaped,” Raja Tariq, head of the Shahrah-e-Faisal police station, told Arab News.
CCTV footage of the area is currently being evaluated to identify the attackers and trace their escape route, he added.
A Karachi police spokesperson said an Indian intelligence agency was behind the killing of the cleric, with an intention to create lawlessness in the city ahead of the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Islamic month of Rabiʽ Al-Awwal that will begin in the next few days.
“The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has collected evidence, and in the initial investigation, signs of involvement of RAW [Research and Analysis Wing], the neighboring country’s spy agency, have been found,” said the police spokesperson in a statement.
Speaking to the media, Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Irfan Bahadur also endorsed the claim about the involvement of the hostile agency, saying: “We are investigating whether this is a case of sectarianism or something else, but we suspect RAW’s involvement in this murder.”
Zia-ur-Rehman’s assassination follows a series of attacks on religious scholars in the city.
The latest murders include the killing of Khalid Raza, formerly associated with Al-Badar Mujahideen, in Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighborhood on February 26.
Additionally, another cleric, Maulana Abdul Qayyum Sufi, was also killed in the same vicinity in March, followed by the assassination of religious leader, Salem Khatri, outside his New Karachi residence in the same month.
