‘Sectarian attack’: Senior govt geologist gunned down in Quetta

Mohsin Ali Naqvi was deputy director at Geological Survey of Pakistan.

QUETTA:

Gunmen shot dead a senior government geologist on Wednesday in an apparent sectarian attack signaling the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Balochistan.

Mohsin Ali Naqvi, the deputy director at the Geological Survey of Pakistan, was gunned down outside his office on Saryab Road, less than a stone’s throw from the private residence of the provincial governor, according to a senior police official, Muhammad Ayaz.

“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.

The gunmen were waiting for Naqvi, a member of the Shia community, at the main gate of his office, said Noor Baksh Mengal, the SHO of Saryab police station.

“Three gunmen were waiting for him at the main gate of his office. They fired bullets at him from close range and escaped,” said Mengal. “His family said they had no feud with anybody and Naqvi was killed because he was Shia,” he added.

According to Deputy Inspector General of Police (Investigation branch) Hamid Shakeel, the geologist was on his way to work from his residence in Satellite Town when gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire on him.

Naqvi died on the spot and was later taken to the Civil Hospital for autopsy. Police and Frontier Corps officials cordoned off the area as investigators collected evidence, while a case was registered against the unidentified gunmen.

No group claimed responsibility for the killing till the filing of this report.

Sectarian violence has killed more than 4,000 people since the late 1990s.

Earlier this month, a roadside bomb ripped through a passenger bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Mastung district, killing at least three people. Similarly, last month a Shia judge was shot dead in Quetta along with his driver and police bodyguard. (With additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.