HYDERABAD:
Traders in Sanghar district observed a shutdown strike on Thursday to protest the police’s failure to make progress in the murder case of Dr Saleem Arain, who was shot dead on Tuesday. The family, the Arain community and local traders lamented that not only were the culprits still at large, but sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) had also not been invoked, even though a banned group claimed responsibility for the killing.
Malik Imtiazul Haq, a local politician associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, told a news conference that the incident was a targeted killing. Arain was shot dead while leaving his clinic for his residence near Rehmat Shah Chowk. The district headquarters hospital referred him to Nawabshah People’s Medicine Teaching Hospital, from where he was shifted to a private facility in Karachi, where he succumbed to his injuries. He had suffered two gunshot wounds.
“A terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is lamentable that the police did not include the relevant sections of the ATA in the FIR,” Haq said. He added that the suspected terrorist group had sent a warning to the Punjani settlers of Sanghar through the killing of Arain.
The business community has warned of further protests and shutdown strikes if the killers are not brought to justice. Pakistan People’s Party MP Shazia Atta Marri also condemned the killing.
