ANP Leader Shot Dead in Karachi
Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead an ethnic Pashtun politician in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi yesterday, raising tensions ahead of elections later this month, police said.
The attackers ambushed the car of Awami National Party Vice President Fazlur Rehman Atakhel in the city’s Sohrab Goth area and then fled, police official Javed Afridi told AFP. Atakhel, about 50 years old, died on the spot, Afridi said.
Witnesses said unrest gripped the Pashtun-dominated neighborhood after the killing and angry supporters of Atakhel’s ethnic nationalist party opened fire in the air. Groups of protesters torched a bus, pelted passing cars with stones and set up roadblocks using burning tires, local residents said.
Pakistan is due to hold general elections on Feb. 18. The polls were delayed for six weeks after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27. The Interior Ministry said yesterday British detectives will give their first report to the Pakistani government this week on their findings in Benazir’s murder.
A team of forensic and explosive experts from Scotland Yard spent more than two weeks in the country after President Pervez Musharraf sought British help following Benazir’s killing.
“They informed us that they would submit their report by Friday,” Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig. Javed Cheema told AFP. The British investigators are due to arrive here today from London.
British Embassy spokesman Aidan Liddle also confirmed the report would be presented to the government this week.
Saudi-Pak Naval Exercise
Cmdr. West Fleet of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces Rear Adm. Abdullah S. Al-Sultan said in Karachi Saudi and Pakistani navies enjoy decades-long cooperation and the joint exercise Nasim Al-Bahr is bound to strengthen cooperation between the two navies.
Speaking at a reception hosted by Saudi Defense Attache in Pakistan Abdullah Saeed Al-Ghamdi at a hotel, Adm. Abdullah said special forces were also taking part in the 9th edition of the joint naval exercise currently under way.
Adm. Abdullah said the exercise would make “our ties stronger and we are looking forward to improving it further.” Cmdr. Logistics of Pakistan Navy Rear Adm. Muhammad Shafi said a strong Saudi delegation and seven ships were taking part in the exercise. He said the exercise will continue till Feb. 9.
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