Who killed Masood Hamid and why?
Who killed Masood Hamid and why?
After getting multiple notifications from the alumni of the Habib Public School on the social media, about the brutal murder of one of their ex-colleagues I got curious about the homicide victim: Masood Hamid. Who was he and why did he get killed?
Masood Hamid, Director of Marketing at the Pakistan Herald Publications (a part of the Haroon family media empire that publishes the Daily Dawn, the Monthly Herald, etc. and owns the City FM 89 radio and the Dawn TV) was murdered Friday night. According to the newspaper reports his body was found in his car; that he was killed with a single shot in his head; and that the gun was left behind on the scene.
How was Masood Hamid’s murder related to another high profile murder (SHO Preedi Police Station Aijaz Khwaja killed on Thursday), and an attempted murder (of Debra Lobo, also on Thursday), in Karachi?
Who killed Masood Hamid and why?
1. Was Masood Hamid’s murder an act of sectarian target killing? Not really. He was not a Shia; not a Qadiani—he was just a run-of-the-mill, not-too-interested-in-religion-Sunni. Killers of the police officer Aijaz Khwaja (a Shia) did not leave a note because they did not need to, but those who assaulted Debra Lobo did—the note said Lobo was being attacked because she was an American. In short, assaults on Khwaja and Lobo can be attributed to the Sunni extremists. But how to handle Masood Hamid’s murder?
2. Was Masood killed because he worked for a media outlet? Probably not. Masood was neither a reporter, nor he decided the editorial policy of any publication.
3. Was Masood killed by mistake, when target killers wanted to really kill someone else? Probably not. Karachi target killers are known to be diligent—they do their homework before they kill.
4. Was Masood killed in a mugging attempt that he resisted? [Imagine the scenario: Masood Hamid reaches his destination and is coming out of the car when someone puts a gun to this head and asks for his wallet and the cell phone. Masood resists, the nervous gunman shoots Masood and in panic leaves the weapon behind.] Counter argument: Like most educated people Masood probably knew there was no point in resisting when you had a gun to your head. Also, unless the gunman is really novice, it is not easy to leave behind the gun.
5. Was Masood killed because he owed someone money, or because of some other personal matter we are not aware of? We do not know.
For whatever reason Masood Hamid was killed, one thing is certain: after three incidents of high profile assaults, in just two days, the claims of target-killers being wiped out of Karachi, after an operation against MQM, have dissolved into thin air. The Karachi operation needs to be widened to include the religious extremists and other criminal gangs.
Photo, courtesy of Dawn.com
After getting multiple notifications from the alumni of the Habib Public School on the social media, about the brutal murder of one of their ex-colleagues I got curious about the homicide victim: Masood Hamid. Who was he and why did he get killed?
Masood Hamid, Director of Marketing at the Pakistan Herald Publications (a part of the Haroon family media empire that publishes the Daily Dawn, the Monthly Herald, etc. and owns the City FM 89 radio and the Dawn TV) was murdered Friday night. According to the newspaper reports his body was found in his car; that he was killed with a single shot in his head; and that the gun was left behind on the scene.
How was Masood Hamid’s murder related to another high profile murder (SHO Preedi Police Station Aijaz Khwaja killed on Thursday), and an attempted murder (of Debra Lobo, also on Thursday), in Karachi?
Who killed Masood Hamid and why?
1. Was Masood Hamid’s murder an act of sectarian target killing? Not really. He was not a Shia; not a Qadiani—he was just a run-of-the-mill, not-too-interested-in-religion-Sunni. Killers of the police officer Aijaz Khwaja (a Shia) did not leave a note because they did not need to, but those who assaulted Debra Lobo did—the note said Lobo was being attacked because she was an American. In short, assaults on Khwaja and Lobo can be attributed to the Sunni extremists. But how to handle Masood Hamid’s murder?
2. Was Masood killed because he worked for a media outlet? Probably not. Masood was neither a reporter, nor he decided the editorial policy of any publication.
3. Was Masood killed by mistake, when target killers wanted to really kill someone else? Probably not. Karachi target killers are known to be diligent—they do their homework before they kill.
4. Was Masood killed in a mugging attempt that he resisted? [Imagine the scenario: Masood Hamid reaches his destination and is coming out of the car when someone puts a gun to this head and asks for his wallet and the cell phone. Masood resists, the nervous gunman shoots Masood and in panic leaves the weapon behind.] Counter argument: Like most educated people Masood probably knew there was no point in resisting when you had a gun to your head. Also, unless the gunman is really novice, it is not easy to leave behind the gun.
5. Was Masood killed because he owed someone money, or because of some other personal matter we are not aware of? We do not know.
For whatever reason Masood Hamid was killed, one thing is certain: after three incidents of high profile assaults, in just two days, the claims of target-killers being wiped out of Karachi, after an operation against MQM, have dissolved into thin air. The Karachi operation needs to be widened to include the religious extremists and other criminal gangs.
Photo, courtesy of Dawn.com
Labels: مسعود حامد، ڈان اخبار، ہیرلڈ، ٹین ایجرز، ایس ایچ او اعجاز خواجہ، ڈینٹل کالج، پرنسپل ڈیبرا لوبو
posted by Cemendtaur @ 7:40 PM
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