Religious scholar killed in Quetta

Religious scholar killed in Quetta 
 
Thursday, 19 Feb, 2009 | 12:41 PM PST | 
 
 
The move came amidst an announcement of Shariah in Mingora - Reuters photo. 

QUETTA: A leader of the Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat was gunned down on the Mannojan Road here on Wednesday. 

 

Maulana Iftikhar Habibi was going to the PTV centre in a van to record a programme when armed men on a motorbike opened fire with automatic weapons, police said. 

 

He was seriously injured and died on way to hospital. The van driver was also injured. 

 

No one claimed responsibility for the attack till late in the evening. 

 

Angered by the killing, supporters of the Maulana held a protest demonstration and blocked some roads. 

 

Later, they took the Maulana’s body to the Governor’s House and the Chief Minister’s House in a procession, chanting anti-government slogans. 

 

After the demonstration, the protesters dispersed peacefully. 

 

Security was beefed up in the city and large contingents of police and Balochistan Constabulary were deployed to avert any untoward situation. 

 

The Balochistan chapter of Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat has decided to observe a strike in Quetta on Thursday in protest against the killing. 

 

Addressing a press conference, the provincial president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Maulana Abdul Qudoos, said his party would observe a three-day mourning and if the killers of Maulana Habibi were not arrested by the end of the mourning the government would be responsible for people’s reaction. 

 

Police is reported to have rounded up over two dozens people from different areas after the incident. 

 

Pylon blown up 

 

A power pylon was blown up in the Chattar area of Nasirabad district on Wednesday. 

 

Police also said that explosives found under three other pylons had been defused.