'LeJ faction leader killed Sunni Tehreek chief Saleem Qadri'

KARACHI: A man belonging to banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) told police that Asif Ramzi, a LeJ faction leader, killed former Sunni Tehreek (ST) chief Saleem Qadri in 2001, ARY News reported on Monday.

During police interrogation, Farrukh Jamal alias Ghora said that he too helped Ramzi, the leader of his own faction of LeJ, kill the then ST chief Saleem Qadri on May 18, 2001.

Jamal claimed that on May 17, 2001, Asif Ramzi gave him some Kalashnikov rifles and ordered him to reach with the same at a milk shop near city court on May 18. He added that when he reached the place the next day, Ramzi asked him to follow him till Saeedabad town, where Ramzi took the bag full of arms from him.

“Ramzi killed Saleem Qadri with four of his accomplices in Saeedabad and returned me the arms which I carried back to Federal B Area” Jamal is quoted as saying in the report available with ARY News.

He added that Arshad Polka, one of Ramzi’s accomplices, was also killed in retaliatory firing by Qadri’s security guard.

The ST chief and five others were killed on May 18, 2001 while they were being driven to a mosque for Juma prayers. Qadri, his nephew, Hafiz Anis Qadriand Mohammed Altaf Husain Junejo, brother-in-law of Saleem Qadri, Hafeez Raza, security guard, and Abid Baloch, driver of the victims’ car were killed in the attack.