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Nawaz Sharief's defence lawyer shot dead

Hasan Zaidi in Karachi

One of the senior lawyers representing deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the plane hijacking case was shot dead in his legal chambers here in Karachi by unidentified gunmen on Friday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses say that at about 1:45 pm four men arrived in a car outside the building in downtown Karachi which housed the offices of Iqbal Raad, who had served as the Attorney General of Sindh province during Nawaz Sharif's tenure as prime minister.

Three men went into the building, two of them armed with pistols and one with an AK-47, while the driver of the car kept the engine running.

The three gunmen burst into the offices of Raad and shot two men on their way into the inner chambers. The two, one a law student who worked with Raad and an office assistant, died on the spot.

The gunmen then shot Raad who was hit in his neck and chest.

Police sources, who claimed they were attempting to apprehend the killers, could offer no clue as to the identity of the gunmen or their motive.

They, however, cautioned that the murder may not have any connection with the most prominent case Raad was handling.

Meanwhile, government sources expressed their shock over the assassination and promised to make all out efforts to bring the criminals to justice.

Raad was among the team of defence lawyers who withdrew from the plane case - in which Nawaz Sharif and six others are charged with attempting to divert a commercial airliner on October 12 carrying General Musharraf - to protest against a court ruling giving the judge the power to censor portions of the defence statements for the media.

Sharif had claimed that the lawyers took the action without consulting him and also expressed full faith in the judge and the court.

Except for one, all the lawyers - including Raad - were later persuaded by the accused to rejoin the case.

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