By Salman MasoodA prominent secular political party on Wednesday accused Pakistan’s powerful security establishment of assassinating one of its former lawmakers a day earlier.
Syed Ali Raza Abidi, 46, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday evening outside his home in Karachi, a volatile city that is Pakistan’s commercial and economic hub. The party he once represented, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, called it a “coldblooded assassination” that was “part of a crackdown on the party by Pakistan’s military establishment.”
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or M.Q.M., controlled the politics of Karachi for decades, but has come under increasing pressure in recent years after a crackdown by security forces. The party’s founding leader, Altaf Hussain, has lived in self-imposed exile in London for the past two decades.
Critics said M.Q.M. maintained iron-fisted control over the city through fear and intimidation with a network of armed enforcers. The crackdown by security forces dismantled much of the party’s militant networks. The M.Q.M. fragmented into several factions, with each group vying for political legitimacy and control over Karachi.
Mr. Abidi was a well liked politician who had a large Twitter following and good relations with parties across the political spectrum.
He belonged to the Shiite Muslim sect, which has been targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim groups in the past.
“He was a liberal, progressive politician who was very vocal against religious extremism, sectarianism and intolerance,” said Owais Tohid, a veteran journalist and political analyst. “He was well entrenched in the civil society and campaigned for the rights of the religious minorities and the oppressed. His killing has come as a big shock,” he added.“He told me about receiving death threats when I spoke with him earlier this month,” Mr. Tohid said. “He said he was thinking of leaving the country. There could be political reasons behind his killing due to internal rivalries or his activism for rights groups.”
Mr. Abidi said in September that he was leaving the M.Q.M. But in recent weeks, he had been working to unite the different factions of the party.
His assassins seemed well trained and thorough. Two attackers followed Mr. Abidi’s S.U.V. as it pulled outside his residence in an upscale neighborhood of Karachi. CCTV footage showed one attacker getting off the motorbike as he took a few steps toward Mr. Abidi, who was sitting in the driving seat of the vehicle. After shooting multiple times, the attackers sped away.
On Sunday, two members of a breakaway faction, Pak Sarzameen Party (P.S.P.), which is considered close to the security establishment, were killed. The police said they were investigating the recent spate of killings, but it was too early to tell whether they were linked.
They said they were also looking into whether there were sectarian motives behind the latest attack.
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