QUETTA: In a fresh incident of target killing in Balochistan, provincial Education Minister and PPP leader Shafiq Ahmed Khan was shot dead while his relative, Hidayatullah Jafar, was injured on the Ali Bahadur Road here on Sunday afternoon.
The Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) has claimed responsibility for the killing.Official sources said the provincial minister and his relative were disembarking from their car to enter their house when some unidentified gunmen fired at them with automatic weapons. Shafiq sustained multiple bullets injuries to his head and chest. He died on the spot.
The attackers had taken position on the Ali Bahadur Road near the residence of the provincial minister. They opened fire with a 9mm pistol as soon as Shafiq Khan came out of his car at 5:30 pm. The attackers fled after confirming the death of the minister. The police and rescue teams reached the spot after half-an-hour when the body of the minister was removed to the Civil Hospital, Quetta, in a private car.
SP Quaidabad Jafar Ali told The News that four teams of police had been constituted to nab the attackers and all the entry and exit points of the city had been sealed. “We had requested the minister several times to enhance his security but he always used to refuse, saying that he was a public representative,” the police officer said.
“I saw one person who suddenly opened fire at us and I received one bullet on my left leg,” said the injured Hidayatullah Jafar while talking to this correspondent at the Civil Hospital’s emergency ward.
Moving scenes were witnessed at the hospital when the minister’s body was being shifted to morgue. Hundreds of people had gathered there. Shafiq Khan would be laid to rest today (Monday) after Zohr prayers at the Kassi graveyard.
The killing of the provincial minister stirred tension in the provincial capital as enraged protestors took out a protest rally and burnt tyres on the Mezan Chowk. The protesters chanted slogans against the provincial government.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani announced a three-day official mourning in the province on the killing of Shafiq Ahmed Khan. All private and government educational institutions would remain closed for three days. Also, the Balochistan
Professors and Lecturers Association (BPLA) announced three-day mourning. Besides, the Anjuman Tajiran Balochistan announced shutter-down strike in Quetta to protest against the killing.
The killing of Shafiq Khan has been widely condemned by government officials and political and nationalist leaders. Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Deputy Speaker Syed Mateeullah Agha, Senior Minister Maulana Abdul Wasey, Provincial Minister for S&GAD and Chief of Jhalawan Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in the Balochistan Assembly Mir Muhammad Sadiq Umrani, Provincial Ameer JUI-F Senator Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, provincial ministers Maulana Abdul Samad, Maulana Abdul Bari, Maulana Sarwar Musa Khail, Mir Shah Nawaz Marri, Captain (retd) Abdul Khaliq Achakzai, Mir Asim Kurd Gailo, Mir Zafarullah Zehri, Hafiz Ainullah Shams, Chairman Ansar Burney Trust and former federal minister Ansar Burney, Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat Balochistan General Secretary Syed Habibullah and Nazim Quetta City District Government Maqbool Ahmed Lehri strongly condemned the killing of the minister.
Besides, the National Party, the Awami National Party, the Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), the Pashtoonkhawa Students Organisation (PSO), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Balochistan Bar Association and the Balochistan High Court Bar Association have also slammed the killing.
