Two years later: Dr Shakeel Auj’s killers remain at large

Slain KU professor’s son demands widespread probe; police content with investigation

KARACHI: Sunday (today) is the second death anniversary of the dean of faculty of Islamic studies at Karachi University (KU), Professor Dr Shakeel Auj. Two years on, who killed the professor and why still remains a question, at least in the victim's family's thoughts.

A single 9mm bullet claimed Dr Auj's life in Gulshan-e-Iqbal when he was on the way to attend a ceremony organised in his honour at the Khana-e-Farhang Iran (Iranian cultural centre) on September 18, 2014.

Multiple suspects

Interestingly, within four months of his murder, the man allegedly responsible for the killing was claimed to have been arrested by the Karachi police. The suspect, identified as Muhammad Mansoor, a resident of Liaquatabad, was said to be affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Mansoor was also a suspect in the murder of Professor Sibte Jafar -principal of the Government Degree College in Liaquatabad - in March 2013. Back in April 2013, the police had also claimed that two suspects affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and involved in Prof Jafar's murder were arrested from Surjani Town.

Making the case further complicated, a video message by Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS) released two days after the Dr Auj's murder claimed responsibility for the killing. In the nine-minute video, AQIS's Ameer Asim Umar threatened to execute more people who, according to his beliefs, were involved in committing blasphemy from Pakistan to Bangladesh.

JIT demanded

The victim's family, on the other side, is unhappy with the pace of the police investigation. The family said that two years have passed but still there has been no genuine progress in the case. "AQIS had accepted my father's killing. Was there any investigation in that direction?" questioned the slain professor's son, Dr Hassan Auj, while talking to The Express Tribune. "There were media reports regarding the arrest of the son of a well-known political personality of Karachi, who was a member of AQIS and had accepted my father's as well as Prof Dr Waheedur Rehman's killing. Why have the police failed to present a charge-sheet against him," he asked.

In April 2015, Prof Rehman, who also worked at the KU, was gunned down in the Federal B area of Karachi.

"I am afraid that my father's murder case is being diverted to another direction without taking these important facts into account. I am unable to comprehend the reluctance towards investigating these leads, especially as my father had been pointing towards these things before his murder," he explained.

Dr Hassan also questioned whether the Counter-Terrorism Department made the AQIS claims part of the investigation and demanded the constitution of a joint investigation team to probe the case.

Case closed?

Contrary to the statements of the victim's family, police investigators claim that the involvement of the AQIS is fabricated news. "I am the investigation officer and I know what is right or wrong," said DSP Nasir Lodhi while talking to The Express Tribune.

"The MQM was behind his [Dr Auj's] killing. With this killing, the party aimed to disrupt the peace of the city. The MQM man arrested also confessed to the crime. Even the bullet casing recovered from the site matched a pistol recovered from Mansoor. The charge-sheet has also been submitted in court. Now there is nothing left in this case," he said, wrapping up his argument.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2016.