Following the usual silence of the Pakistani Shia Ulema! (Scholars), Allama Ali Akbar Kumaili, son of senior Shia scholar Allama Abbas Kumaili was gunned down by unidentified assailants in the Sindh capital on Saturday.
Initial reports suggest that the incident took place in Azizabad neighbourhood.
According to a Mujlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen’s (MWM) spokesperson, Akbar was going home with his children and guard from his ice factory in Bhangoriaa Goth, Block-2 of Azizabad, when unidentified armed men ambushed him near the factory.
Akbar was shot twice in his chest and once in the abdomen, while his guard Jumma Khan was shot twice. They were rushed to Ziauddin Hospital in Nazimabad where doctors described their condition as critical.
Both succumbed to their injuries during treatment.
Allama Kumaili leaves behind a wife and three children.
The concerned police officials were not immediately available for comments.
Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) and Tahaffuz Azadari Council (TAC) have strongly condemned the incident.
Meanwhile, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri of Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) has condemned the incident and said that target killings of Shia community was underway unhindered in Karachi and the government has failed to control it.
“Police and Rangers have failed to arrest culprits behind the killings of doctors, scholars and teachers and lawyers belonging to the Shia sect,” he said adding that the target killings have exposed the so-called targeted operation against militants in Karachi.
“Government and law enforcement agencies have completely failed to eliminate the terrorists and protect the Shia Community of Karachi from terrorists.”
Jafaria Alliance have called for three days of mourning. This has been supported by the MWM. A protest demonstration is being staged at Numaish where Kumaili’s funeral prayers will be offered on Sunday afternoon.
Condemning the assassination of Allama Akbar Kumaili, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief over the death and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul.
Shia scholar Allama Abbas Kumaili (left) speaks at a press conference. – File Photo
He sympathised with the bereaved family and prayed to Allah Almighty to grant courage to them to bear the loss with equanimity.
The prime minister said that by forging unity, the people of Pakistan would foil the designs of those who were spreading terrorism in the country.
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the tragic killing of Allama Ali Akbar Kumaili at the hands of terrorists and termed it a part of plot aimed at fanning sectarianism in the country.
In a press statement issued here, the PPP chairman termed the killing an attack on the very roots of this country and its historic diversity.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan also strongly condemned the killing in Karachi, saying it was an attempt to divide the country on sectarian lines.
Speaking to participants of his ongoing protest sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad, he said Shia, Sunni, Deobandi, Barelvi, Hindu, Sikh, Christian and all ethnic communities were Pakistani only.
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