|
Amjad Sabri, 45, was one of South Asia's most popular singers
of the "qawwali", Sufi devotional music that dates back more
than 700 years.
Devotees thronged the ambulance carrying Sabri's body to the
funeral, blocking its progress.
Sabri's death was the latest in a high-profile series of attacks
in Karachi, a megacity of 20 million plagued by political,
ethnic and sectarian violence.
Karachi's murder rate has fallen sharply since 2013 after a
crackdown by paramilitary Rangers, but new fears were stoked on
Monday after the kidnapping of the son of Sindh High Court Chief
Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.
Two days later, gunmen on a motorcycle shot at the windscreen of
Sabri's moving car in the congested Liaquatabad area of the
southern city, and a relative traveling with him was wounded.
A spokesman for a branch of the Pakistani Taliban, Qari
Saifullah Saif, claimed the killing late on Wednesday, saying it
was in retaliation for a song that the hard-line group considers
blasphemous.
In 2014, Sabri was caught up in a blasphemy case involving a
Sufi song he had sung on a morning television show that
mentioned religious figures in a way some deemed offensive.
Violence is common in Karachi despite a sharp decline in murders
since the Pakistani military launched a crackdown two years ago
against suspected militants and violent criminals.
In May, gunmen shot dead prominent Pakistani rights activist
Khurram Zaki, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban
and other radical Islamist groups, in the central part of the
city.
In April last year, prominent activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot
and killed while traveling in her car.
(Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Nick Macfie)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
