AhlulBayt News Agency - PESHAWAR: A Shia elder was shot dead while his son escaped unhurt in an attack near the Kohati Gate on Monday as the target killing of Shias continued unabated in the provincial capital.
Locals said Malik Iftikhar Ali along with his son Hasnain was on the way in Kohati Gate when armed motorcyclists opened fire on them. Iftikhar Ali martyred on the spot while his son remained unharmed in the attack.
Malik Iftikhar who was a Shia was on his way to Government College of Technology on Kohat Road where he worked as a superintendent. He was ambushed by unidentified gunmen who shot him and left the him critically injured.
Malik Iftikhar was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where he succumbed to his injuries. “It was part of his daily routine to go to college using public transport and he was at a pick up stop when someone attacked him,” a member of the Shia community told The Express Tribune.
He is not the only member of his family to have fallen victim to sectarian violence.
“Just 10 days before Muharram, his brother Jarrar Ali Haideri, an employee of the Directorate of Afghan Refugees, was killed in similar fashion when he was taking his children to school in the morning,” he added.
The deceased’s relatives and members of the Shia community criticised the police for not arresting the attackers.“Neither the police worked out the cases of attacks on our people nor the government and its ministers bothered to visit the victim families and announce compensation for their children,” said Sardar Abul Hassan, president of the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Fiqah Jafria, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He added that a number of members of the Shia community were killed, but none of the government officials ever condemned their killing. He said most of those slain hailed from the Mohallah Marviha locality in old Peshawar,
“Neither the attackers are held nor the community provided protection. No compensation is announced for the victims of the target killings despite the fact that the government offers compensation to the victims of other terrorist incidents,” added Sardar Abul Hassan.
Expressing anger, he pointed out that Monday’s target killing incident happened close to the police checkpost but nobody from the force bothered to arrest the accused.He asked the chief minister, provincial police chief and other concerned quarters to take notice of the frequent killings of the members of the Shia community in Kohati, Kabuli, Yakatoot, Gulbahar, Hayatabad and other parts of the city.
According to Imdad Ali, another elder of the community, at least nine Shia elders killed in the last few months belonged to Mohallah Marviha. They included Sardar Ali Baba, Mohammad Abbas, Dr Syed Saqlain Haider, Safdar Abbas, his brother Mohammad Abbas, Sardar Abid Hassan, his brother Sardar Wajid Hassan, ASI Malik Jarrar Hussain, Sardar Asghar Ali and now Malik Iftikhar Ali.
According to the Shia leaders, the government and police have miserably failed to provide protection to members of the community and compensate the heirs of those killed in targetted killings in Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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