The Murder of a Professor
Unidentified persons gunned down the
acting pro-vice chancellor of
Balochistan
University on
Tuesday outside his residence in Sariab Road, police confirmed.
Mohammad Akbar, Capital City Police Officer, told his blog that Professor
Dr. Safdar Kiyani was
taking a routine walk outside his residence on Sariab Road when
unidentified persons riding a motorcycle fired three shots on his
head and back. Consequently, Kiyani, who was serving as the acting
pro-vice chancellor of Balochistan University, died on the spot.
Kiyani, Dean of Students’ Affairs, was a Botany professor and was
tipped to be appointed as the vice chancellor of the university.
The firing incident took place at around 19:00pm near Sariab Road’s
Green Town, where the professor’s house is located. Sources in the
university said Kiyani belonged to District Rahim Yar Khan of the
Punjab province. Holding a PhD in Botany, he joined the University
of Balochistan in 1979-80. It was learnt that he was in the final
stages of being appointed as the vice chancellor of the University
of Balochistan. He is survived by 3 sons and one daughter.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a banned Baloch separatist
group, claimed responsibility for the killing of the professor.
Bibarg Baloch, a spokesman for the BLA, which has been engaged in
target killing of Punjabi-speaking professionals, told me last night
that his organization accepted responsibility for the killing.
“The professor was working as a spy for the ISI
(Inter-Service Intelligence) and some other agencies to provide
disinformation about the Baloch people,” said the spokesman, adding
that the BLA had been warning him to concentrate on his job rather
than spying for the intelligence agencies. “We told him since you
are professor you should confine your activities to the university
alone. But he did not pay heed to the warnings and continued his
‘objectionable’ activities.”Since
the killing of a former Baloch governor and chief minister, Nawab
Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, in August 2006, differences between
Baloch and Punjabi ethnic communities in Balochistan have
dramatically intensified.
The underground BLA has repeatedly warned the Punjabis to leave
Balochistan as it holds them responsible of having links with the
military and the intelligence agencies. On their part, the Punjabis
argue that they have been living in Balochistan for several
generations and they have no where to go but to live in Balochistan.
BLA has refused to talk to the newly inducted provincial government
in Quetta despite an offer by Nawab Mohamamd Aslam Raisani, the new
chief minister of the province, to sit on negotiation table.
The BLA spokesman also claimed to have killed eleven army personnel
in Dera Bugti district in three different incidents of landmine
blasts. However, there was no confirmation by the government of
landmine blasts.
While the Balochistan governor and chief minister have strongly
condemned the killing of the senior professor, the University of
Balochistan as well as the other universities would remain shut for
three days to mourn the killing of Dr. Kiyani
Source:wordpress:by Malik Siraj Khalid
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