Sunday, May 19, 2013

Senior politician killed in Karachi


Zahra Shahid Hussian, the central vice-president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, was shot in the head twice by three gunmen on Saturday night. As Hussian was leaving her home, three gunmen attacked her. She was killed just before re-elections took place on Sunday at NA-250, a stronghold of PTI in Karachi. The city is controlled by Muttahida Qaumi (MQM), the rival party, which won 18 of 19 National Assembly seats in Karachi. MQM is considered to be a terrorist organization and its leader, Altaf Hussain, is wanted on murder charges in Pakistan. He leads the party from exile in England. Zahra Hussain’s death is has led to accusations against MQM, but Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab says “On average 12 people are killed in Karachi every single day…this could’ve been a robbery.” Some see this killing as a security failure by the provincial government. 

During last week’s election, 150 people were killed throughout Pakistan by the Taliban, who believe democracy is “un-Islamic”.  

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