In a shocking incident that has sent waves of fear through Rawalpindi, a prominent local businessman was brutally gunned down in a targeted attack on Tuesday. The victim, Sardar Muhammad Irshad, was shot dead by armed assailants on a motorcycle as he drove home with his three young daughters.
Chilling Details of the Attack
According to police and eyewitness accounts, the tragic event unfolded in the Samarzar Colony area under the jurisdiction of the Saddar Beroni Police Station. Irshad, a respected petrol pump owner and resident of the colony on Adiala Road, had gone with his driver to pick up his daughters from school. After collecting them, he was personally driving the double-cabin vehicle back home, with the driver in the front passenger seat and his daughters seated safely in the back.
As the vehicle neared the street leading to their residence, two armed men on a motorcycle pulled alongside the moving car. Without warning, they opened indiscriminate fire, striking Irshad multiple times. Preliminary reports indicate he sustained at least seven bullet wounds. The attackers fled the scene immediately after the assault.
Police Response and Investigation
Law enforcement agencies responded promptly after receiving the report. Police teams reached the crime scene, collected forensic evidence, and shifted the body to a hospital for post-mortem. CCTV footage of the incident, which has since surfaced, clearly shows the assailants firing at the vehicle before escaping.
Senior police officers, including Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani, took immediate notice. CPO Hamdani directed Saddar SP Anum Sher to submit a detailed report and ensure the swift arrest of the perpetrators. SP Anum Sher visited the hospital, met with the grieving family, and assured them of decisive action.
Initial investigations strongly suggest this was a premeditated target killing, likely rooted in an old personal enmity. A senior officer involved in the case remarked that the victim was killed "mercilessly in front of his daughters". Notably, while a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) team visited the site several hours later to gather information, no CTD officials arrived at the crime scene immediately after the incident.
A City on Edge
This brutal murder is the latest in a series of violent incidents that have heightened concerns about law and order in the region. Just a couple of days prior, unknown assailants opened fire inside Lake View Park in the capital, killing one man on the spot and seriously injuring another within the jurisdiction of the Secretariat Police Station. That attack caused widespread panic among visiting families, with dozens screaming and fleeing the park. Police were reportedly late to arrive, allowing the attackers to escape easily.
In a separate incident, two more individuals were critically wounded in another shooting. These consecutive events have raised serious questions about public safety. The police have vowed to apprehend the culprits behind Irshad's murder and bring them to justice, promising a thorough investigation into what they describe as a deeply personal and targeted crime.
