The death of a professor

May Professor Syed Mumtaz Haider Naqvi rest in peace.

KARACHI: Professor Syed Mumtaz Haider Naqvi used to visit my office almost every day when I was working as passenger sales manager for PIA around a decade ago in Quetta. He would come to drop and pick his wife who used to work in PIA as well. The couple had one child, a girl, who was studying in school.

On March 28 of this year, Professor Naqvi was kidnapped and soon his captors demanded a large ransom. With great difficulty, by April 18, the family managed to arrange around Rs2.7 million and handed it over to the kidnappers. The latter promised that the professor would be released the same evening. However, the next day Professor Naqvi’s bullet-riddled body was found.

After the professor’s death, the media reported that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) had taken responsibility for his killing. Professor Naqvi was associated with the noble profession of teaching for over two decades and used to teach in Bolan Medical College. It is a shame that the LeJ professes to follow Islam but first kidnapped a man, asked for a large ransom and got it, and despite that killed the captive.

May Professor Naqvi rest in peace.

Mohammad Khan Sial

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2011.