QUETTA: Gunmen shot dead a senior official of the Geological Survey of Pakistan on Wednesday in an apparent sectarian attack in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, police said.
Mohsin Ali Naqvi, a member of the Shia community, was gunned down outside his office in Quetta, the Balochistan capital, Mohammed Ayaz, a senior police official, told AFP.
The province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is plagued by sectarian violence between Shias and majority Sunnis, as well as Taliban attacks and a separatist insurgency.
"We are investigating the crime but it seems a case of sectarian killing. There is a wave of sectarian killing in the country and this is part of that," Ayaz said.
Another official who is in charge of the local police station said the gunmen were waiting for Naqvi, a deputy director of the Survey, at the main gate of his office.
"Two gunmen were waiting for him at the main gate of his office. They fired bullets at him from close range and escaped," said Noor Bukhsh. "His family said they had no feud with anybody and Naqvi was killed because he was Shia."
Sectarian violence involving Sunni and Shia Muslims, who account for around 20 percent of the 167 million population, has killed more than 4,000 people since the late 1990s.
Last month a Shia judge was shot dead in Quetta along with his driver and police bodyguard.
COMMENTS (21)
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It is very easy to Declare any situation as " Secteraian killing" But who will arrest the killers. It creates so many questions in the Mind ... For example Who are Killers ? If they Know such Sect , Why are not they Arrested ? If arrested ? How Many of Them Convicted ? Where is the Entire Police and Agencies , When Such type of Muder,s Or Killing of Innocent People Occurs ? And How about the FC , Who is Deployed after 200 Metrs . Such type of Killing, is the Killing of Entire Humen Beings , Why the Ulma , Mufti,s Do not Declare these things Forbidden/Haram. Being a son of this land , I worry about the Security Situation of the Province . and what is lesson we are giving to our new generation .
All the Muslims , whether Shia or Sunni are Brothers , and son of Hazarat Adam , we may realise our obligations towards almighty Allah . The person who is being killed , is a muslim are killed by a muslim. how stange ......,
Jinnah's Pakistan is dying and being replaced by Zia's Pakistan. Both of them created in the name of Islam. In 1947 Jinnah created Pakistan with a vision of Islam which will be progressive, liberal and inclusive of Muslims as well as Non Muslims as citizens with equal rights. Gen Zia gave a new birth to Pakistan armed with salafi Islam, where not only non Muslims but Shiaets have no place.
Failed institutions of a failing state.
Sectarian killings have become a profession. Government takes share of it; GulfAid :(
It is not a sectarian violence, it is a Shia Genocide!!!!!
@mahmood:
Please give credit where it's due. Thank Jinnah and Bhutto too.
If we have a Judiciary which for fear or favour, let the terrorists free, Today they are supported by the international forums and the delegation of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was there to support these terrorists. It is a catch 22 position.
Inquiries cannot solve the moral problems of this Nation. The nation is controlled by Bearded Beasts who strike terror into the hearts of the Government, The Army, The Police and the general public ! RIP Pakistan !!
and the judiciary allows terrorists to walk scot free from the courts. This could be called judicial terrorism.
Thank you Zia ul Haq. I hope you are happy when you see the Pakistan you created. How is the air conditioning working there?
the barbarity continues
and this nation protest in the name Prophet (PBUH)
lets ask the world to have a law to try countries that have these kind of crimes on a daily basis