The head of a law college in the provincial capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province was killed on June 8.
Amanullah Khan Achakzai, the principal of University Law College Quetta, was fatally wounded after being shot by unknown gunmen in Quetta city while he was on his way into work.
No one claimed immediate responsibility for the young academic’s assassination.
Achakzai was commuting in his own vehicle when unknown militants targeted him with several shots in the Tarkha Killi area of Spini Road in the provincial capital.
According to police, Achakzai died of his wounds before reaching the hospital.
Manzor Sarwar, a senior police official in Quetta, told media at the scene that the victim was shot 10 or 12 times.
“After a long period, there’s been such an incident,” he said. “We will soon gather evidence, and the perpetrators will be charged according to law.”
Soon after the attack, lawyers flocked to Civil Hospital Quetta, where they announced a boycott of the court proceedings. They also blocked Zarghon Road, a major traffic artery, to protest the young barrister’s murder.
Targeted assassinations are frequent in Balochistan. The resource-rich but sparsely populated impoverished region has been reeling from separatist violence, military raids, and attacks by Islamist militants for more than a decade.
as/fg