Islamabad, April 25 (IANS) A female Pakistani human rights activist was shot dead in Karachi after hosting a discussion on allegations of torture in Balochistan province, a media report said on Saturday.
Sabeen Mahmud, who founded the social forum T2F, was shot dead on Friday night, minutes after the end of an interactive discussion, “Unsilencing Balochistan”, which was attended by journalists and rights activists, including the founder leader of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Abdul Qadeer Baloch, Dawn online reported.
According to reports, pillion riders on a motorcycle attacked Mehmud and her mother on Sunset Boulevard in DHA Phase-II after they had left the T2F in a car.
Both of them suffered bullet injuries and were taken to a nearby private hospital where doctors pronounced Sabeen dead.
Her mother was shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital. She is in critical condition.
A senior police officer ruled out the killing as result of a mugging attempt and said she had been attacked deliberately but he could not share any possible motive.
“She was returning home with her mother in a car after the seminar she had organised on Balochistan,” he said.
“It’s an incident of targeted killing, but we are not aware of any threats she had been receiving. The investigations are on and it would be too early to speculate about the motive behind the killing,” the officer said.
“She sustained four bullet injuries on her face, neck and chest,” a doctor said.
Half an hour before her murder, Sabeen Mehmud’s Facebook status read: “Unsilencing Balochistan (Take 2) with Wusatullah Khan, Mama Qadeer, Farzana Baloch and Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur. Moderated by Moneeza Ahmed.”
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who also holds the home portfolio, sought a report about the incident and ordered the city police chief to arrest the killers.
Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo formed a special team, to investigate the murder.