Thousands attend funeral of Sufi singer killed by extremists

Amjad Sabri was to rest yesterday amid tears and sobs beside his father, Ghulam Farid Sabri, in Paposh Nagar graveyard, Karachi.

One of Pakistan’s most renowned qawwali performers is shot dead by gunmen in the southern port city of Karachi. The eldest boy is 12 years old. Now I’m the family elder…

Sabri, the son of another famous Qawwali singer, Ghulam Farid Sabri, who died in 1994, was a fixture on national television and regularly performed on a morning show during Ramadan.

A forensic expert collects evidences from the vehicle of famous Sufi singer Amjad Sabri after an attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, June 22, 2016.

The Taliban and other Islamist groups have carried out major attacks on Sufi mosques and shrines in recent years, including the 2010 bombing of the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore that killed more than 40 people.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Qari Saifullah Saif, said that the killing was done because of a song that the group considered “blasphemous”.

Violence is common in Karachi despite a sharp decline in murders since thePakistani military launched a crackdown two years ago against suspected militants and violent criminals. However, it has by no means stopped the violence. This week a doctor belonging to the minority Ahmadi community was also shot dead in his clinic by gunmen.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack and has directed authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“It was a targeted killing and an act of terrorism”, senior police officer Muqaddas Haider said. Then two days later, Taliban shot at the windshield of Amjad’s auto while he was driving on a congested street.

But for fans of Amjad, they can’t understand why Amjad was targeted at all. “People of Pakistan loved him and will remember him as a goodwill ambassador of Pakistan around the world”.

Al Jazeera’s Alia Chughtai, reporting from Karachi, said the area of Liaquatabad Road where the funeral will be held was under lockdown by security forces.

Amjad Sabri came from a family which traces its musical links to the 17th Century court of India’s Mughal empire.

Amjad Sabri was the nephew of qawwali icon Maqbool Sabri who passed away in 2011. The singer was known for not having any political affiliations.

While actress Mahira Khan wrote, “Shocking!”

Popular actor-singer Ali Zaffar also posted: “This is extremely sad, disturbing and unacceptable, specially since he had submitted an application for his protection”.