Top MQM leaders shot dead in Karachi

Shops and business centres remained closed in parts of Karachi yesterday to protest against the killing of two influential regional politicians supporting President Pervez Musharraf's bid to retain power through a referendum.

Both former senator Mustafa Kamal Rizvi and an ex-member of the National Assembly, Dr Nishat Malick, were found dead in the posh Defence Society area late on Friday night. Musharraf was present in the city when the killings occurred. He is scheduled to hold his last public rally on the referendum today.

Relatives said the two men were stepping out of their car after returning from a dinner, when they were ambushed outside Malick's home, by unidentified gunmen who escaped under the cover of darkness after the early morning killings.

Malick, a practising doctor, specialised in sports medicines, was part of the International Olympic Committee.

Inmates of the house had shut themselves in after hearing the firing on the road, unaware that a member of their own family had been a victim of terrorist action.

The victims were both members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which represents the descendants of Muslim migrants from India. The party politically dominates Karachi as well as other urban areas in southern Sindh province.

An anonymous caller phoned the police who found the victims' bodies after it had been lying there for 45 minutes.

They transported the bodies to Jinnah Hospital for a post-mortem. After the killers had dumped their bodies, they had taken the car away, abandoning it in front of the offices of a foreign diplomatic mission on Khyaban-e-Hafiz. Police said the driver of the vehicle was being questioned after he ran home from the scene of the crime.

The MQM has declared support for Musharraf in the referendum to be held on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether the killings were directly linked to the plebiscite, which is bitterly opposed by Musharraf's political rivals and radical religious factions.

MQM officials believe the motive was to create a rift between their party and Musharraf after they recently reached an understanding for cooperation to maintain peace in Karachi and Sindh.

It is also possible that some MQM dissidents, disagreeing with MQM policies on rapprochement with the government, may be trying to embarrass MQM leader Altaf Hussein, who lives in self-exile in London.

Analysts said that seen in the light of the bomb blast in the Punjab town of Bhakkar near Mianwali late on Thursday in which 12 people were killed, the MQM hit could be an attempt to derail the referendum or elections in October.

Both Dr Malick and Rizvi were potential candidates for elections from Karachi and were trying to mobilise support.

Former MQM senator Nasreen Jalil rejected the theory of rebellion within the MQM. "Neither of the two were controversial people. They were held in high esteem. Why should anyone have a grudge against them?" she said.

She said that was an attempt to disturb the peace of the city and that fingers would invariably point to her party. "They always put the blame on the MQM".

The city police chief Asad Jahangir shared the former senator's views. "It was neither sectarian, nor ethnic, the killing had only one purpose - to create a law and order problem in the business capital of the country".

Inspector-general of Sindh police Kamal Shah is heading the team of investigators to probe the high profile murders. Police said it had found 15 empties from the scene of the incident, and had registered murders cases.

Shops in Federal "B" area, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Azizabad and nearby localities closed voluntarily. In Saddar however, volunteers of the MQM appealed to people to shut their business to mourn the killings.