Balochistan unrest: School founder and principal shot dead in Gwadar

QUETTA:

A man who chose to come back from the United States and serve his community in the port city of Gwadar was shot dead on Thursday.

Zahid Askani, founding principal of the Oasis School, was shot dead near the institution. Askani was the president of Pakistan-US Exchange Programme Alumni Network Gwadar chapter.

Police in a report described the assailants as “unidentified persons,” who “managed to flee unchallenged” after committing the crime.

Though the motive for the murder is unclear, it is suspected that Askani was targeted because he had set up a co-education school and an English-language teaching centre.

“The principal [Askani] was on his way to the school when unidentified persons riding a motorcycle intercepted him and opened fire from a very close range,” said an official at the Panjgur police station.

“The attackers managed to flee from the scene unchallenged after committing the crime,” the official said. Askani was shot seven times in the head and upper torso, he said. The body was shifted to the state-run hospital in Gwadar for autopsy.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2014.