Muslim leader Faizan Ahmed Falahi shot dead in broad daylight in downtown
SUNDAR KHANAL
KATHMANDU, Sept 26: In yet another broad daylight incident that challenged security of the capital even more blatantly, Faizan Ahmed Falahi, a young Muslim community leader, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in the heart of the city on Monday afternoon.
The 41-year-old general secretary of Islami Sangh Nepal (ISN) was gunned down at about 1:45 pm in front of the Tri-Chandra Campus as he was returning to his ISN office at Durbar Marg after a regular nawaj prayer session at Nepali Jame Masjid at Ratnapark. He was declared dead upon arrival at Bir Hospital nearly half an hour after the incident.
The mysterious shooting is third such in 2011. The latest incident in the series features a Muslim victim as in the previous two cases -- the central jail shooting of Yunus Ansari and the shooting of a Pakistani embassy official.
The assailants had riddled Faizan with bullets after having waited for at least an hour at the corner facing Kamaladi area.
Eyewitnesses painted the sequence of events as something seen in a gangster movie.
"I was walking just behind the plump guy as the two assailants neared him and simultaneously opened fire. The bullets hit his body from leg to the head in measured shots. I was shocked and fled the scene as I saw blood spurting from the gunshot wounds before he collapsed," said Ananda Chaudhary, a student at Tri-Chandra College.
The assailants put their weapons, which appeared bigger than revolvers, back on their sleeves and made their way toward Kamaladi in a normal gait. "They kept left toward the Heritage Plaza alley. All the people seeing the whole incident could do nothing but looked on until the assailants were out of sight," said Pradip Tiwari, a staffer of an educational consultancy office in the same place.
A resident of Vokraha VDC-2 in Sunsari district, Faizan had been the general secretary of ISN for last four years and was waiting for the general assembly election due next month. He obtained a master´s degree in economics from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2003. Before that, he had done his higher studies in India and obtained his first master´s degree in Muslim Studies from Aligarh University.
"He was a well-educated, dynamic personality and a very benevolent man. He came to Kathmandu after teaching in his own village for a few years," said Allhauddin Ansari, a ISN member who looks after the Alheera Educational Society, a ISN wing.
Faizan was an influential member of ISN often participating in the programs abroad.
"We conducted prayers together. The news of the tragedy came to us within a few minutes he moved out of the Masjid," said Allauddin, a close friend and relative of Falahi.
Ansari is survived by his wife, two sons and a new-born daughter.
Pathetic security
The incident took place in a stone´s throw from Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office (MPCO) and quite near from the Durbarmarg police station. A few cops were also stationed at the entrance of the Tri-Chandra Campus for the ongoing Tribhuvan University exams.
The first response from police came with the arrival of one policeman about 10 minutes after the incident, said eye witnesses.
"The assailants could have been easily nabbed had they been chased immediately," said witnesses.
"We are seriously investigating the incident, "said SSP Madhav Nepal, the MPCO spokesperson.
What is Islami Sangh Nepal?
Islami Sangh Nepal (ISN), an NGO established in 1985, has been working in the field of Islamic education, healthcare, and construction of mosques, schools and madrasas in Nepal.
According to ISN President Nazrul Hasan Falahi, the NGO´s goal is to "serve all human beings, especially the needy, and make Allah happy".
ISN has an eight-member central committee, five major sister organizations -- Students´ Education Foundation (SEF), Human Development Academy (HUDA) Nepal, Al-Hera Educational Society Nepal, Masjid Council Nepal and Health Services and Releif Association (HESRA) -- involved in social welfare activities.
According to Falahi, ISN has been running 13 schools that provide free modern education including Islamic education to poor Muslims but it charges the well-to-do.
Besides, ISN sends Muslim students to two universities each in India and Bangladesh for higher education. The scholarship in Bangladesh is full while it is partial in the Indian university.
The NGO is also involved in heathcare. It has been running a 15-bed hospital -- Bhutaha General Hospital and Maternity Clinic -- in Sunsari. The Bhutaha hospital is supported by Islamic Development Bank based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Asked about the source of funding at the NGO, Falahi said, "We, the members, pay zakat (alms) as well as raise funds from various Gulf countries both at individual and organizational levels to run ISN."
Who was Faizan Ahmed?
Faizan Ahmed, 41, hailed from Sunsari and had been the general secretary of ISN for the last four years. He did his bachelor´s degree and received Islamic education from India and completed his master´s in economics from the International Islamic University, Islamabad.
He then worked as the principal of Helal Public School, Ghuski, Sunsari for six years.
According to Falahi, Ahmed who was the youngest among his five bothers.
Falahi said that Ahmed was very gentle with friends. "I used to suggest to him to be strict in maintaining discipline in ISN but he never became so," remembered Falahi.
According to Ahmed family members, he did not have dispute with anyone either in family or in office.
Murder condemned
In the meantime, ISN President Nazrul Hasan Falahi has condemned the murder and has termed it as a conspiracy to disturb the religious harmony in Nepal.
"The attack might have been carried by those who do not want peace and religious harmony in the country and those who are blindly against Islam," said Falahi, demanding the government to book the murderers through an impartial investigation.
He termed the murder of Ahmed as an attack on entire groups that have been working for peace and development in the country.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar assured Ahmed´s family that the guilty would be nabbed and punished. He also said he would bring a proposal in the cabinet for providing compensation to the bereaved family and to declare Ahmed a martyr.
The home ministry has also agreed to bear the expenses for taking the body to Sunsari, the home district of the deceased.
