Quetta sessions judge shot dead

A senior sessions judge was shot dead along with his driver and police guard in Quetta in Thursday in an attack being attributed to continued sectarian violence in the province.
Additional Sessions Judge Syed Zulfiqar Hussain Naqvi was on his way to court in the morning in his official vehicle when he was ambushed. His vehicle was at the railway crossing when two armed men opened indiscriminate fire on the judge, killing him, his driver and the guard instantly.
Following the incident, police and Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area. The police guard was identified as Abdur Shakoor and driver as Essa Khan. Eyewitnesses said the two attackers rode their motorbike into the nearby slums after committing the attack.
Talking to reporters, Quetta CCPO Mir Zubair Mahmood said Quetta Additional Sessions Judge III Zulfiqar Naqvi was heading to court when his vehicle was ambushed by armed men, resulting in the killing of all three passengers in the car.
He said evidence was being collected from the spot to arrest the culprits, adding that two teams had been formed under DIG Investigation and DIG CID to investigate the killing. DIG Operation Wazir Khan Naasar said the prime target of the attack was the sessions judge and the incident could be an act of sectarian killing. However, investigation was underway and he would be able to say anything conclusive once it was complete.
Following the killing, Balochistan Chief Justice Qazi Faez Esa immediately called Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar Yaqub Fatah Moahmmad, Inspector General of Police Umar Bin Khitab and Home Secretary Naseebullah Bazai and reprimanded them for the security lapse. He directed them to track down the culprits involved in the killing at the earliest. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing so far. Chief Justice Justice Qazi Faez Essa, lawyers and a large number of people reached the hospital after knowing about the incident.
The BHC chief justice assured the family members of the deceased that they would be dispensed justice. Dozens of people of the Shia community staged a demonstration outside Civil Hospital Quetta to protest the killing of members of the community and blocked the Jinnah Road. They chanted slogans against the killings and appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan for taking suo motu notice of the murder. The Balochistan Bar Association, Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Balochistan Bar Council and other organizations boycotted all court proceedings across the province that would continue for two more days. Condemning the killing, lawyers accused the provincial government of failing to provide security to the people. They said even lawyers, judges, doctors and professors were not safe in the province, adding that a number of incidents of targeted killing had occurred but no measures had been taken on part of the government for curbing these incidents. Tahafuz Azadari Council condemned the killing of Syed Zulfiqar Hussain and announced a three-day mourning. It also appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan for taking suo motu notice of the murder. Zulfiqar Naqvi joined the judicial service structure in 1996 as a judicial magistrate and he was currently working as the Quetta additional district and sessions judge III.