RAWALPINDI - An ex-army man was shot dead while his nephew was injured by an unknown gunman at Millatabad area of Race Course Police Wednesday morning.
The deceased was identified as Musarat Abbas, 50, a retired Hawaldar of Pakistan Army Corps of Signals, hails from Neela Dhula, Chakwal, while injured man as Naveed Anjum, a personnel of an intelligence agency. Later, hundreds of residents and traders of the area staged a protest demo at Qasim Market on Peshawar Road by parking big containers in the middle of the road and torching tyres and jammed the road for more than two hours bringing traffic to a halt across the city. They said that two unknown dacoits shot Musarat dead over offering resistance during a dacoity bid. However, the police claimed that the man was killed over some old enmity and it was not a dacoity.
Lawlessness ruling in Potohar Division as the gang of four robbers had also killed a trader Shafique-ur-Rehman and his son Hamza Shafique during a house robbery in Millatabad on December 20, 2013. Gunmen had also killed three police cops on December 30 guarding an Imambargah on Dhoke Seydan Road. The killers could not be arrested so far. According to eyewitnesses and family members, Musarrat Abbas has been running a general store very next to his house in Street Number 16 of Millatabad after retiring from service.
The incident occurred at 7:30am when the victim was opening the locks of his shop when two bike riders arrived and one of them tried to snatch money and other valuables from him. Upon resistance, the robber started indiscriminate firing at Musarat killing him on the spot, they said. They said that hearing the noise of gunshots, the nephew of victim, Navid Anjum, went out of house and run to rescue his uncle, however, the fleeing dacoits also targeted him and injured him.
The victim was later taken to the DHQ Hospital but was declared brought dead by the doctors; a relative said adding that the injured army man was rushed to CMH, where he was operated upon.
Later, the incident sparked unrest in the area as local traders and residents poured on to roads and started marching towards Qasim Market. They also torched tyres and blocked Peshawar Road. PML-N MPA Malik Iftikhar visited the protesting site and pacified the agitators by assuring arrest of the killers. Sub Inspector (SI) Mazhar, the investigation officer, however, claimed that it was not a dacoity rather an unidentified gunman had killed Musarat over some old enmity in his shop. “Musarat divorced two or three wives and it might be possible he was killed in result of that,” he said. CPO Umar Akhter Lalayka, SP Potohar Division Haroon Joya and SHO Raja Musadiq did not respond when were contacted by this scribe to know their comments over this incident.