Pak MQM’s lawmaker shot at; driver killed

Afzal Khan in Islamabad 

Gunmen on Tuesday shot and wounded a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader and killed his car driver in Karachi, the police said, as the government sought to woo his party's deputies back to Parliament after they resigned over the arrests of several leaders.

The police said four attackers on two motorcycles fired on Abdul Rashid Godil, an Opposition lawmaker, when he was returning with his wife  from a nearby superstore. Rashid's driver Abdul Mateen died in the attack.

“They made sure of his identity and shot him multiple times,” said Nasir Lodhi, a deputy police superintendent. “Rashid has sustained six bullet wounds in his jaw, neck and chest.”

The police said it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, which was being investigated.

He was admitted to Liaquat Medical Hospital where his condition is said to be critical. MQM leader Haideri Abbas Rizvi 

told mediapersons that the doctors said the next 48 hours were critical for the leader. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah condemned the attack.

The attack came as talks began at MQM's Karachi headquarters over last week's parliamentary walkout to protest against 

what the MPs called a denial of due process for party activists who had been arrested.

(With agency inputs)