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Gunmen Kill 'Peace Broker' in NW Pakistan

   VOA News 20 May 2010

   Pakistani  officials  say  gunmen in northwest Pakistan have killed an
   influential  former lawmaker who helped broker peace deals between the
   government and Taliban militants. Â
   A local police officer said Maulana Mirajuddin was shot to death while
   on  his  way home after attending morning prayers Thursday in the town
   of  local  police  officer  said  Maulana Mirajuddin was shot to death
   while  on his way home after attending morning prayers Thursday in the
   town  of  Tank,  which  borders  South Waziristan, which borders South
   Waziristan.  Two gunmen rode up beside Mirajuddin on a motorcycle and
   opened fire on him. Â
   Mirajuddin  received multiple bullet wounds and died on his way to the
   hospital.
   Mirajuddin  had  served  both  as  a member of parliament and a senior
   leader  of  a  pro-Taliban Islamic group,  Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam. He
   was  instrumental in brokering a peace deal between the government and
   the  Pakistani  Taliban  in  2005  and  another ceasefire in 2007 with
   former  Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud was killed in
   a U.S. missile attack last year.
   No  one has claimed responsibility for the killing, but militants have
   murdered  hundreds  of  tribal  elders  and  government  officials  in
   Pakistan's  lawless  tribal belt along the Afghan border to intimidate
   others from helping the state.
   In  other  violence,  officials in the southern city of Karachi say at
   least  17  people  have  been killed in the past 24 hours in suspected
   factional  violence.   Authorities  say they believe the rival ethnic
   political parties in Karachi played a role in the killings. Â

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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