Pakistan Urged To Tackle Targeted Killings After Politician's Slaying

Dozens of people attended the funeral of a local leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party who was shot dead in the northwestern Swat Valley.

Feroz Shah, a lawyer who was also a member of the jirga tribal assembly in Swat, was laid to rest on December 12, a day after unidentified gunmen opened fire on him and his bodyguard in the village of Damghar.

Both men were rushed to hospital where Shah succumbed to his wounds.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Members of the local jirga assembly urged the Pakistani law-enforcement bodies to take action against targeted killings in Swat, which has been the scene of army operations against the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups.

"We urge all law-enforcement agencies such as the army, police, and [Frontier Corps paramilitary] forces to arrest Feroz Shah's killers and punish them according to the law," jirga spokesman Ahmad Shah Ziarat told RFE/RL.

Elsewhere in northwestern Pakistan, unknown gunmen killed Pashto poet Zahoor Abbas Afgar late on December 11.

Bukhari, who was chairman of the Shi’ite council in Lakki Marwat district, was shot dead in his house.

The assailants escaped the scene, but police later said several suspects were arrested in the area.

Members of Pakistan's Shi'ite minority have been frequently targeted by Sunni Muslim militant groups.