Protesters demand arrest of Prof Ajmal Sawand’s killers

Members of the Sindh Legal Aid Committee staged a demonstration at the Karachi Press Club on Friday to protest over the murder of Prof Dr Ajmal Sawand.

They chanted slogans demanding justice for the victim and calling for end to “the massacre of the consciousness of Sindh”. They also demanded the culprits should be brought to justice immediately.

Assistant Prof Sawand of the IBA Sukkur Computer Science Department was gunned down in a brazen attack by armed men of the Sundrani tribe in the Kandhkot-Kashmore district on Thursday. The victim was heading back from his village in Kandhkot to Sukkur when tribesmen sprayed his vehicle with bullets.

The victim was PhD in artificial intelligence with several years of teaching experience in Paris, from where he had obtained that degree in 2015. Separately, in a statement issued in Hyderabad, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi condemned Prof Ajmal Sawand’s Killing and announced protest demonstrations on behalf of his party in all the districts of the province on Sunday.

He said the killing of Prof Sawand was the killing of the consciousness of Sindh, due to which the entire province was mourning. “Tribal conflicts have become a source of trouble for Sindh. There is an urgent need to stop them. The Sindh government and administration are not serious about stopping tribal conflicts.”

Magsi said the districts of Kandhkot, Kashmore Ghotki and Jacobabad had become no-go areas, where even the police could not go. “Behind these conflicts are the landlords and chiefs who are in power or have the patronage of the government,” he said and added that the provincial government had formed a task force in which these chiefs should be included and given the task of stopping tribal conflicts.

He further said that if the chiefs and landlords behind these disputes were arrested, all disputes would be resolved within two weeks. The STP chief said his party would protest in all districts on Sunday and demand that the killers of Prof Sawand be arrested immediately and brought to justice.