Kathmandu: A top
official of a prominent Muslim organisation in Nepal was shot dead
in broad daylight in capital city Kathmandu while returning home
after praying in a mosque in what Muslim leaders said was the
"targeted serial killing" of Muslims.
Faizan Ahmad, general secretary of Islami Sangh Nepal, was coming
out of the mosque in Kathmandu's prominent Ghantaghar square,
close to the metropolitan police office, having said his afternoon
prayers when two men approached him on a motorcycle and fired at
least five rounds, hitting him in the head and stomach.
Ahmad, in his early 40s, succumbed to his injuries in the nearby
Bir Hospital.
This is the second case of firing in a prominent public place in
the capital in two months, occurring on the day security was high
following the return of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai from New
York.
The attack made the red-faced Maoist-led government shuffle the
police administration immediately, removing Kathmandu police chief
Kedar Rijal and bringing in a new man, Rajendra Shrestha, in his
place.
Nazrul Hasan, president of Islami Sangh Nepal, condemned the
killing, saying Muslims were alarmed at the "targeted serial
killing" of Muslims in Nepal.
Hasan cited the murder of two Muslims in southern Nepalgunj city
in the past as well as the killing, also in broad daylight, of
controversial Nepali media baron Jamim Shah, who was shot by
professional killers while going home in his car.
There was also an attack on budding politician and media owner
Yunus Ansari inside prison in Kathmandu but Ansari survived.
Both Shah and Ansari are said to have been associated with running
a fake Indian currency network spanning Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nepal, India and beyond.
Shah's killing is said to have been the handiwork of Indian
underworld don Babloo Srivastava who said he plotted it from a
jail in India's Uttar Pradesh state where he is currently being
held.
In April, Mehboob Asif, visa assistant at the Pakistani Embassy in
Kathmandu, survived a gun attack close to the embassy, following
which the mission asked Nepal's government to beef up their
security.
Hasan said Ahmad was a social worker and a "gentle man" and his
murder had evoked condemnation by other religious groups.
(Sudeshna
Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)
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