Targeted attack: Professor gunned down, another injured

Unidentified men opened fire at Jafri and his assistant as they made their way to the Civic Centre.

KARACHI: The assistant professor of Government College of Technology (GCT) was shot dead as he made his way to Civic Centre in a gray Suzuki Mehran car.

His assistant, a man identified as Shakeel, was injured when unidentified men opened fire at the vehicle within the limits of Sharifabad police station.

A resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Saifuddin Jafri, 50, was killed in a targeted attack when two men on a motorcycle shot at them. Jafri and his assistant were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical treatment and an autopsy. "The way educationists, intellectuals and lawyers are being targeted in the city is devastating," said Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association's Karachi president Firozuddin Siddiqui. "We demand the government and law enforcement agencies to provide educationists with security and do something about those behind this."

With the Intermediate examinations set to start from Tuesday, Prof Siddiqui asked how the government expected teachers to do their job in a state of fear and intimidation.

The police were unable to ascertain the motive behind the incident. DSP Wajahat Hussain told The Express Tribune that they did not know if there was any sectarian aspect to the killing. The police found empty bullet shells at the scene of crime and said that initial investigations have started. However, they have yet to register a case.

Separately, the bodies of four men were found from the bushes in Dhabeji, nearly 50 kilometres away from the city. The bodies were taken to Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for identification after medico-legal formalities were completed at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Initial investigation suggests that the men were kidnapped and then killed. SHO Raja Tariq said that the victims were in their mid-30s, and were tortured by their abductor before being shot multiple times.

No case was registered but the police said that an investigation was being carried out.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2014.