Karachi: Anti-land mafia activist shot dead

[LahoreEstate]

Sunday, November 08, 2009
By M. Waqar Bhatti

Karachi

Karachi NGO Alliance and Trans Lyari Bachao Tehreek Chairman Nisar Hussain Baloch was gunned down on Saturday morning by two motorcyclists near the Love-Lines Bridge, within the limits of the Soldier Bazaar police station, the police and eyewitnesses said.

45-year-old Nisar Baloch, who was a popular figure in Paki Colony and a symbol of resistance against the occupation of Gutter Baghicha since the era of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was shot dead around 10:15 am near Old Golimar Bridge, which is now known as Love-Lines Bridge. He had left his house on his motorbike to buy a newspaper.

Eye witnesses and the police said two assailants on a motorbike intercepted him and shot at him indiscriminately. He was severely injured by four bullets, two of which hit him in the head. Despite this, he tried to escape on his bike and managed to cross the bridge, but finally fell down on Garden Road.

The police reached the scene after residents of the area informed them about the incident. Later, Edhi volunteers shifted Baloch to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), where he was pronounced dead at the arrival.

The police said that the attackers used 9mm pistols, and managed to escape. Two passersby, identified as 40-year-old Yousuf and 31-year-old Tariq were also injured in the attack. They were shifted to the CHK, where their condition was said to be out of danger.

Riots erupted in Pak Colony and the adjoining areas soon after the target-killing. Enraged youths blocked roads, pelted stones at passing vehicles and forcibly closed down businesses in the vicinity.

Baloch was the chairman of the Karachi NGOs Alliance, and as one of the staunchest opponents of illegal encroachments on Gutter Baghicha, had been in the bad books of land-grabbers.

On Friday, Baloch had addressed a press conference at the Karachi Press Club against the occupation of the Gutter Baghicha land, and had accused an ethnic political party of backing these illegal encroachments. In the press conference, Baloch had urged the Sindh High Court and the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the issue, because according to him, even the Sindh chief minister was helpless in protecting the land from occupants.

An FIR (no.331/09) under Sections 302 and 324/34 has been registered against unidentified suspects on the complaint of Baloch’s cousin, Nooruddin.

The latter told journalists that Baloch had spoken about his would-be killers during his press conference on Friday. “That press conference is the FIR for Nisar Baloch’s murder,” Nooruddin said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=207304