KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Oct 5, Reuter: A magistrate was called out of his house, stripped naked, and shot dead during a break in the curfew imposed on Hyderabad after 182 people were massacred there last week, one of his family said.
The relative said Tuesday’s killing of Allah Bachayo Menon could have been prompted by personal enmity or ethnic hatred. His body was thrown into the street wrapped in sacking.
Ethnic riots, which claimed at least 550 lives in Pakistan’s Sind province before the latest outburst, have been used in the past as cover for settling personal feuds.
Menon angered some influential circles by his handling of an investigation into the killing of five people during an army sweep against bandits in February, the relative said.
At least 60 people were killed between June and September in Clashes between Hyderabad’s Mohajir immigrant and native Sindhi communities.
Some politicians said the gunning down of Friday evening crowds by masked gunmen in the city of half a million people was intended to incite racial hatred.
Ethnic rioting flared in Karachi as news of the killings spread, bringing Pakistan’s main business. Center to a halt for four days and the total death toll to about 270.
Officials said Hyderabad was tense but relatively quiet on Wednesday. Troops were carrying out body searches on everyone entering the city and examining vehicles closely.
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan has vowed to crush those responsible for the massacre. He said police sharpshooters would man watchtowers in Sind cities, check posts would be set up at main entry points, and commandos brought in.
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