[An Nahar] A candidate standing in Pakistain's bloody general election was rubbed out along with two supporters in the financial capital Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on the eve of Saturday's polls, officials said.
Shakil Ahmed was a businessman and an independent candidate for the assembly in southern province Sindh but was supported by a faction of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM), the main party which controls Karachi, the Sindh capital.
"We have received three dead bodies, including that of Shakil Ahmed," said Doctor Semi Jamali, head of the emergency department at Jinnah Hospital.
Khalid Hamid, front man for the MQM faction to which Ahmed was aligned, confirmed his death.
"Unknown gunnies opened fire on Shakil Ahmed and he along with two other supporters were killed on the spot. They were in the Landhi area of Karachi for an election meeting," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The faction defected from MQM in 1992 and has a bitter rivalry with the party, one of the main secular coalition partners in the outgoing federal government.