Violence strikes: College principal survives attack by assailants ‘hiding’ inside his car

Separately, a tortured body of a young man was found in Lyari.

KARACHI:

The principal of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Law College (SBBLC) was shot and injured on the outskirts of the city on Saturday.

The principal, 55-year-old Riaz Lund, was shot thrice in the chest and abdomen at point-blank range. He was immediately taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in critical condition. However, after performing surgery on Lund, doctors said his condition was stable.

Lund's relatives and colleagues reached the hospital, where Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders and workers were also present, and shouted slogans against the incident and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.

Besides being the principal of the SBBLC, Lund is also associated with the PPP and is the additional general-secretary of the Peoples Lawyers Forum. "He left home in his car, saying that he will return soon after visiting court," his friend, Rasool Buksh Chandio, told The Express Tribune. "Armed motorcyclists targeted him and shot at him from close range."

The incident took place near the Manzil Petrol Pump located on the National Highway in Quaidabad, within the limits of the Shah Latif police station.

The police had initially suspected that the incident was a robbery gone bad, but evidence has revealed that that may not be the case.

"There is no bullet mark on his car," Shah Latif SHO Arshad Awan told The Express Tribune. "It seems that the armed man - or men, since the number of assailants is yet to be ascertained - was present inside the car at the time of the shooting."

Awan claimed that the principal is now out of danger but has not been able to record his statement to the police yet.

The police are therefore waiting to record his statement, which would help the investigators. No case has yet been registered, while further investigations are under way.

Man found dead

Separately, a young man was found dead from the Bakra Piri Road of Lyari, within the limits of the Chakiwara police station.

His body was shifted to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for identification purposes after medico-legal formalities were completed at the Civil Hospital, Karachi.

SHO Haq Nawaz Baloch, while quoting the initial investigation, said that unidentified persons first kidnapped the victim and then tortured him.

They then took the victim to an abandoned area and shot him dead. Baloch said that a case has been registered and further investigations are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.