• Investigators link broad daylight killings with tribal feud
• Collect 45 spent bullet casings from crime scene
• Sindh Bar Council demands arrest of killers

KARACHI: A brother and nephew of dissident PTI lawmaker Aslam Abro were shot dead and two others wounded in a targeted attack in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Wednesday.

Police said that unidentified assailants, some in a car and some on a motorbike, sprayed a SUV with bullets near Ayesha Masjid in DHA Phase VII at around 11:35am and fled. As a result, four persons suffered serious bullet wounds while their two other companions remained unhurt.

They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Advocate Akram Abro, 65, and his son, Shehryar, 40, died. Another wounded, identified as Irshad Ali Panhwar, 40, was shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital, where his condition was stated to be critical. The fourth wounded person, Abdullah Abro, 45, suffered a bullet wound in the hand and his condition is out of danger.

SSP-South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn Irshad Panhwar was son of former Jacobabad district naib nazim Asghar Panhwar.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said the victims suffered 30 bullet wounds in the head and torso.

SSP Raza said that Akram Abro, along with his son and three others, left his Khayaban-i-Shamshir residence for their hometown Jacobabad in their Toyota Vigo at around 11:15am. When they reached near Ayesha Masjid, their vehicle was ambushed by unknown assailants, he added.

He said that Mr Abro came to Karachi two days ago for some work.

He said that CCTV footage, obtained by investigators, suggested the killers tailed them from the moment they left their residence. Four assailants were in a car and two on a motorbike and they opened fire on the vehicle from three directions using Kalashnikov and 9mm pistols. Investigators collected 45 spent bullet casings from the crime scene, he said.

Akram Abro was the brother of MPA Aslam Abro who had won a provincial assembly seat in Jacobabad on the ticket of the PTI but later left the party and joined treasury benches in the house.

The SSP said MPA Abro told the police that they would lodge an FIR after burial of his brother and nephew in Jacobabad.

‘Tribal vendetta’

However, he said that preliminary investigations suggested that the incident was an outcome of “tribal vendetta”.

He said investigators got some clues that Akram Abro was the “real target” of the killers as he had a “feud with two tribes in Jacobabad”. He did not elaborate.

Advocate Ghulam Hussain Syed of Jacobabad said his friend Akram was a lawyer and member of the Sindh Bar Council (SBC).

He said currently he was taking more interest in politics and social activities and working for pacifying warring tribes, supporting minorities, helping people and promoting education. He said he was also running a prominent school in Jacobabad.

Meanwhile, the SBC condemned the brutal murder of Advocate Abro, terming it a “complete failure” of law enforcement agencies.

It asked the Sindh police chief and other agencies to take notice of the broad daylight killings and arrest the culprits forthwith.

Also, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah directed the police chief to coordinate with the Jacobabad police for investigation.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023