KARACHI (Web Desk) – Only a few days after the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, assailants on Wednesday shot dead an assistant professor of the University of Karachi (KU) in Federal B area of Karachi.
Dr Syed Wahidur Rahman, also known as Yasir Rizvi, was an instructor at the Karachi University’s Mass Communication department.
Although a senior police officer told the media that the slain professor belonged to the Shia community, Dr Rahman’s colleagues at KU, on condition of anonymity, said it is not clear whether he belonged to the Shia or Sunni sect.
He was killed when four unidentified attackers riding two motorcycles opened fire on his car.
The assailants managed to flee the scene soon after the attack.
His body was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi.
Dr Rafia Taj, former chairperson of the Mass Communication department, said the slain assistant professor was an active member of the faculty.
She termed his death a “great loss for the department”, remembering him as a kind and polite person.
Dr Rahman had been working as a journalist for the past 15 years and was relatively a new staffer at the varsity.
A close companion of Dr Rahman at KU said, “He was a very dedicated and honest teacher and it’s possible that his killing might be related to the recent killings of teachers at KU and NED,” the professor said.
Regarding speculation that Dr Rahman’s killing is linked to KU’s scheduled talk on Balochistan “Baloch Missing Persons and the Role of State & Society”, the professor said, “He was in no way related to the ‘Unsilencing Balochistan Take 3’ to be held on May 6 at University of Karachi”.
In the wake of Dr Rehman’s death, university activities have been suspended for two days.
Soon after the news of his death broke, students and teachers rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Earlier in September of last year, Prof Dr Muhammad Shakeel Auj, dean of the faculty of Islamic Studies at KU was shot dead on University Road in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
Police in Jan 2015 had claimed the arrest of a suspect who had allegedly confessed to his involvement in the murders of Karachi University dean of Islamic Studies Prof Dr Shakeel Auj and Prof Syed Sibte Jafar.
Earlier this month, the vice-principal of the Jinnah Medical and Dental College’s student affairs wing Debra Lobo was shot and seriously injured on Shaheed-e-Millat Road in Karachi.
Rampant violence has terrorised Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city and economic heartbeat, in recent years, but a recent security crackdown seems to have brought a lull in the bloodshed.
Kidnappings for ransom, sectarian attacks and gang warfare have spiralled since 2008, terrifying the city’s 18 million inhabitants and prompting tens of thousands of businessmen to flee to the safety of Punjab province.
The city claimed a grisly record in 2014 as 2,029 people were murdered on its streets, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
