--- description: Ghulam Abbas was gunned down while returning from his evening prayers title: Witness to Pakistani Activist's Murder Shot Dead in Karachi image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93d626f064b77cb1/698862ad35ba6f36bbc0f118/rtx1azbj.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pakistan](/tag/pakistan/) ## Pakistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Key Witness to a Pakistani Activist's Murder Has Been Shot Dead in Karachi by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 9, 2015 5:30 AM CUT  People chant slogans as they hold signs and pictures of Sabeen Mahmud, a human rights activist who was shot by gunmen, during a protest demanding justice outside the Press Club in Karachi, Pakistan, April 30, 2015. People chant slogans as they hold signs and pictures of Sabeen Mahmud, a human rights activist who was shot by gunmen, during a protest demanding justice outside the Press Club in Karachi, Pakistan, April 30, 2015.Akhtar Soomro—Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 9, 2015 5:30 AM CUT A policeman who witnessed the murder of prominent Pakistani activist Sabeen Mahmud was himself [killed](http://www.dawn.com/news/1205489 "undefined") by gun-wielding assailants in the western city of Karachi on Monday evening. Ghulam Abbas, a constable who worked part-time as Mahmud’s driver, was returning from his evening prayers when he was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle armed with 0.9mm pistols, Pakistani newspaper _Dawn_ reported. Abbas was sitting in the back seat of the car that Mahmud was driving when she was assassinated in April. He subsequently identified the persons accused of her murder before a magistrate. Mahmud, co-founder of a social activism space called The Second Floor or T2F, was killed soon after organizing a seminar on missing persons in the conflict-ridden province of Balochistan. Raja Umer Khattab, an official in Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department, said Abbas’ assassination would not affect the case since the accused had already been identified. However, he added, “his murder underlines the urgency of protecting the remaining witnesses.” \[[_Dawn_](http://www.dawn.com/news/1205489 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/"},"headline":"The Key Witness to a Pakistani Activist's Murder Has Been Shot Dead in Karachi","datePublished":"2015-09-09T05:30:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:46:41.193Z","description":"Ghulam Abbas was gunned down while returning from evening prayers","url":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/","keywords":["Pakistan","Murder","Assassination","South Asia","karachi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93d626f064b77cb1/698862ad35ba6f36bbc0f118/rtx1azbj.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93d626f064b77cb1/698862ad35ba6f36bbc0f118/rtx1azbj.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People chant slogans as they hold signs and pictures of Sabeen Mahmud, a human rights activist who was shot by gunmen, during a protest demanding justice outside the Press Club in Karachi","caption":"People chant slogans as they hold signs and pictures of Sabeen Mahmud, a human rights activist who was shot by gunmen, during a protest demanding justice outside the Press Club in Karachi","creditText":"Akhtar Soomro—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pakistan/","name":"Pakistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/","name":"The Key Witness to a Pakistani Activist's Murder Has Been Shot Dead in Karachi"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Pakistan Could Charge Ex-CIA Agents for Drone Strike","description":"A senior judge in Pakistan has ordered police to formally investigate former CIA agents for allegedly authorizing a 2009 drone strike.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QkeisBjM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T15:00:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QkeisBjM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4026072/ghulam-abbas-witness-murder-sabeen-mahmud-karachi-killed/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```