1957-2013
غـسلِ مـیٌت نا کہـنا مـیرے غـسل کو
اُجـلـے ملـبوس کـو مـت کــفـن نام دو
میں چلا ہوں علی(ع) سے ملاقات کو
جــس کـی تھـی آرزو وہ گـھڑی آگـئی
March 18, 2013
Prominent educationist and the principal of Government Degree College, Qasimabad, Prof Sibte Jafar, was shot dead in a targeted attack in Liaquatabad on Monday.
Jafar, 50, had left the college on his motorcycle in the afternoon when two assailants on a motorcycle fired a volley of bullets at him near Arshee Chowk. The injured was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), where he succumbed to his injuries, police said. The victim suffered four 9mm bullets in the upper torso. The spent bullet casings have been sent for forensic tests.
The victim lived in Khamosh Colony, Gulbahar, and was also a renowned noha khwan of the Shia community, said Liaquatabad SDPO Wajahat Hussain.
The professor’s murder sparked a wave of protests first from the college students, who arrived at the hospital demanding the arrest of the killers, and then the leadership of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), which announced three-day mourning. Many of the students present at the ASH said the professor was a respectable man, who was always ready to help the needy students.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the two attackers were clad in shalwar-kameez and had small beards, SDPO Hussain said, terming the murder of Jafar a part of the ongoing spree of targeted killings.
Only a few days ago, Jafar was posted as the principal at Sirajudaulah College in FC Area, but the notification was later cancelled. The professor had been serving at the Qasimabad degree college for 27 years.
Jafar is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. His funeral will be held at the Amroha Ground in Ancholi after Zuhrain prayers. The murder case was registered at the Liaquatabad police station on the complaint of his son.
Liaquatabad SHO Ejaz Qaimkhani was suspended by DIG West Zafar Abbas Bukhari over the murder. Inspector Shaukat Ali was posted in his place.
Colleges closed
“All his life, Jafar kept an old motorcycle but you needed to call him only once for help in any personal or academic matter and he would arrive at the appointed place,” recalled Prof Mirza Athar Hussain, a former president of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA).
“He was a devoted marsiya khwan and trained hundreds of students in the art,” he said, adding that the slain professor even established an institute to teach the art of writing and reciting marsiya [elegy]. About 5,000 students are enrolled at the institute.
Jafar’s students too remember him for his simplicity and love for Urdu poetry, especially in the elegy genre. He was well-versed in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. Jafar also authored several books and wrote thousands of marsiyas and nohas.
To protest the murder, professors and lecturers have announced boycotting academic activities on Tuesday across the province, said SPLA President Prof Iftikhar Azmi. All colleges will be closed on Tuesday (today).
Three-day mourning
Criticising the government, judiciary and law enforcers on their failure to protect Shia citizens, the MWM announced three days of mourning over the untimely deaths of Jafar and senior lawyer Zaheer Abbas Naqvi.
MWM Secretary General Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri said the people of Pakistan had lost a great teacher, poet and humanitarian in Jafar. “His brutal murder is tantamount to the murder of Urdu literature and marsiya.”
The Shia Ulema Council also condemned the murder of the professor.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-166042-Educationist-Sibte-Jafar-shot-dead
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