KARACHI: Tariq Mateen, brother of journalist Athar Mateen, on Sunday said the deceased journalist was robbed nearly nine times before being killed in Karachi while foiling a mugging bid.

Speaking during a special transmission of a private television channel over rising street crime incidents in Karachi, he said that not only Athar but they were five brothers and each of them have been robbed multiple times on Karachi streets.

“The robbers are roaming freely and it is Karachites who need to hide their mobile phones and cash while going out over fear of getting robbed,” he said and added, “Our police and government has failed to deal with the situation,” he said.

He asked as to why they had to pay the price of the government’s failure. “The government functionaries only had to issue a condemnation after every such incident without taking concrete steps to deal with it,” he said. He lamented that the spot where Athar Mateen was shot dead was less than a kilometer away from a police station. “However, no one came from the station even after the robbers took their time to run away while continuously firing,” Tariq Mateen said and blamed that those who had to take action against these elements are allegedly their backers.

It is pertinent to mention here that unidentified armed men opened fire on a vehicle in Karachi’s Nazimabad area, killing a local journalist identified as Athar Mateen as he tried to foil a mugging bid.

The police said that the journalist Athar Mateen tried to foil a mugging bid when the incident occurred. “Muggers were looting a citizen when Mateen hit them with his vehicle,” they said and added that the suspects after being hit opened fire on him resulting in his immediate death.

“Athar Mateen was shot three times and we have recovered two empty casings of 30-bore pistol,” SSP Central Maroof Usman said and added that a team of crime scene unit has also been dispatched to the spot.