Gunmen shot dead a prominent rights activist, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical militant groups, in Karachi late on Saturday night, police said.
The police said Khurram Zaki was killed at an outdoor cafe in North Karachi, while a companion was wounded.
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Hakeemullah group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters, saying Zaki had been targeted for his stance against radical cleric Abdul Aziz.

Taliban faction claims killing Khurram Zaki in Karachi

In 2007, Aziz and his followers were engaged in an armed standoff with government forces at his mosque in the capital Islamabad, culminating in a eight-day military operation that saw Pakistani commandoes raid the mosque.

Aziz has since been exonerated of all criminal charges by courts, but still calls for the overthrow of the government and for a strict version of Islamic sharia law to be imposed.
Zaki had confided to friends that he was on several militant “hitlists”, Jibran Nasir, a fellow activist who was also involved in protests against Aziz, told Reuters on Sunday.

Nasir said Zaki did not specify which groups specifically had threatened him.

The above statement is completely wrong – its had been prominently declared ASWJ formerly SSP is held responsible

According to a statement released after Zaki’s death by a website he helped run, the activist had been “a target of a systematic hate campaign” by a militant political leader and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Targeted killings are common in Karachi, although violence has declined significantly since the launch of a paramilitary operation in the city almost three years ago.

Rights activists are increasingly among those targeted in Karachi. In April last year, prominent activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot and killed while travelling in her car.

FIR registered

Sir Syed Police on Sunday registered an FIR, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, against unidentified persons for killing Zaki.

The police incorporated anti-terrorism sections in the case, which was registered on the application of Khalid Rao — another activist who received bullet wounds in the attack Saturday night.