Professor killed in target killing in Quetta

Professor killed in target killing in Quetta
Updated at: 1815 PST, Tuesday, April 27, 2010
QUETTA: Unidentified armed men shot dead a renowned educationist Nazima Talib Mehdi on Sariab Road here on Tuesday.

According to police, she was on her way when armed men riding on a bike opened fire, killing her on the spot. Later, the assailants fled.

She was Assistant Professor at Mass Communication Department of the University of Balochistan (UoB).

Her students told APP that she was one of the pioneers of the Mass Communication Department of the UoB. She was also an intellectual and poetess.

She had participated in several mushairas in Quetta and other cities. She along with her husband and a son had been living in Quetta for last several years.

She had been participating in literary programs of Radio Pakistan.

Her murder left thousands of her students and common people grieved.

The citizens urged the relevant authorities to intervene into the matter to halt target killing of teachers, doctors and innocent citizens so that they could heave a sigh of relief.

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QUETTA: A lady professor at the University of Balochistan was gunned down in Quetta city today, in yet another targeted killing of intellectuals, bureaucrats, security personnel, educationists, politicians, in the insurgency-affected Balochistan province of Pakistan.

Nazima Talib Mehdi was Assistant Professor at Mass Communication Department of Balochistan University (UoB). Her students told reporters Ms. Nazima was one of the pioneers of the Mass Communication Department of the UoB. She was also an intellectual and poetess and had participated in several Mushairas in Quetta and other cities, including literary programs of the Radio Pakistan.

Ms Mehdi along with her husband and a son had been living in Quetta for last several years.

According to published reports, gunmen on Tuesday shot dead the renowned woman university professor in Quetta city, where targeted killings blamed on tribal insurgents, sectarian groups and militants are increasing, police said.

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Female university professor shot dead in Quetta

QUETTA: Unidentified assailants riding a bike gunned down a University of Balochistan assistant professor of media and journalism on Tuesday. Nazima Talib was shot thrice from behind near the private residence of the Balochistan governor on Saryab Road as she was travelling in a rickshaw to Radio Pakistan for participation in a programme. The governor’s security guards – who called in an ambulance – said they heard no gunshots. The body was initially taken to Civil Hospital, and later sent to the professor’s hometown of Karachi. A case has been registered against unidentified attackers and an investigation launched. Police described the attack as a target killing. mohammad zafar

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To fear is to abdicate life
If I'd be given another life
I shall grow bamboo forests
And encamped in green sunlight,

(Every Girl by Nasreen Anjum Bhatti Translated by Yasmeen Hameed)

Nasreen Anjum Bhatti is amongst those few women poets and writers who inspired political activism in the dark era of General Zia. Her book of poetry, titled 'Neel Karain Neelkaan-Deeyaan Di War', created a stir when published around the time when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged.
A staunch advocate of 'maan boli' (mother tongue), Nasreen is a multi-lingual because she was born in Quetta, Balochistan, and raised in Sindh. She writes famously in English, Urdu and Punjabi. She is also well versed in Chinese and Russian literature.
She was a regular at the popular study circles of leftists, back in the sixties. She always spoke and wrote of class struggle, freedom of thought and humanity. In '79, when the police came to know that she was publishing a book on Bhutto, they started chasing her, with the result that no publisher was willing to print her.
Nasreen has also worked as a broadcaster in Radio Pakistan, Lahore, and patronised talent. After her retirement, she became attached with a literary organisation where she is currently conducting research.

Click link below to read excerpts from an exclusive interview with her
jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2008-weekly/nos-24-02-2008/lit.htm#1


Female university professor shot dead in Quetta

QUETTA: Unidentified assailants riding a bike gunned down a University of Balochistan assistant professor of media and journalism on Tuesday. Nazima Talib was shot thrice from behind near the private residence of the Balochistan governor on Saryab Road as she was travelling in a rickshaw to Radio Pakistan for participation in a programme. The governor’s security guards – who called in an ambulance – said they heard no gunshots. The body was initially taken to Civil Hospital, and later sent to the professor’s hometown of Karachi. A case has been registered against unidentified attackers and an investigation launched. Police described the attack as a target killing. mohammad zafar


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Second Editorial: A great tragedy

The targeted killing on Tuesday of Nazima Talib, an assistant professor at the University of Balochistan in Quetta is a grim reminder that all is not well in that beleaguered province. The assistant professor, who had been teaching there for the last 23 years, was allegedly shot in revenge by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for the killing of two Baloch women in Quetta and Pasni. Killing of a woman, who was doing the commendable service of imparting knowledge when already there is a dearth of educated people, is a great tragedy not only for her family, but also for the province and the country.

In recent years, a pattern of targeted killings of non-Baloch people has emerged in the province. Contrary to what the government would have us believe, initially no radical nationalist group claimed responsibility for target killings in Balochistan. They contended that the security services are trying to create divisions on ethnic lines by perpetrating such killings. Given the difficulties of media reporting in Balochistan, it is next to impossible to get independent and accurate news from the region. Whether one believes the nationalists or the army or the BLA supposedly taking responsibility for this latest killing, the fact remains that the situation came to this pass due to the Centre’s policy of discrimination and neglect towards this province. Even too little and too late steps, such as the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package, have been found wanting in implementation as stated in our editorial ‘ Sans scholarship’ yesterday. The package might have been good intentioned, but how can the reconciliation policy work with the Frontier Corps (FC) running a parallel government in the province? The FC is a repressive force and continues to violate the rights of the Baloch. It has become notorious because of accusations of extra-judicial kidnapping, torture and deaths of numerous individuals, which has created great hatred and bitterness towards the Centre. Also, the incumbent government has repeatedly announced the end of the military operation in the province, but for all intents and purposes the opposite is true.

It is indeed a tragedy that historically amicable relations between Baloch and non-Baloch communities in the province have fallen victim to the war of the disgruntled Baloch nationalists with the state. The buck stops with the government. If sanity is to prevail, the government will have to find ways to halt the military operation, withdraw the hated FC, and carve out an intensive reconciliation policy and implement it on a war footing to placate hurt Baloch sentiments. *