KARACHI: Disappointed and frustrated over official apathy and the slow pace in case investigation, family and friends of Prof Shakeel Auj at Karachi University (KU) will be marking his second death anniversary on Sunday with a heavy heart.

It was Sept 18, 2014, when the senior professor and dean of the KU faculty of Islamic studies was shot dead in the morning hours while he was on his way to attend a ceremony organised in his honour at the Iranian Cultural Centre.

Although the case attracted a lot of media attention at that time and there were some arrests as claimed by police, progress in the case has been pathetically slow.

“There has been no genuine progress in my father’s murder case. I ask the authorities whether they have investigated the claim of a banned outfit (Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) that it had killed my father,” said Dr Mohammed Hasan, the son of Prof Auj.

The slain professor, he said, had been threatened verbally as well as through fake fatwas and text messages labelling him as infidel liable to be killed.

“And, he was ultimately killed for the same reason,” he said.

He also raised questions over media reports regarding the arrest of a suspect said to be associated with Al Qaeda and son of a well-known political personality of Karachi.

“It was reported that he had confessed to my father’s as well as Dr Waheed-ur-Rehman’s killing. Why the police could not file a challan against him as yet,” he said, adding that reports about the involvement of Muttahida Qaumi Movement hadn’t been brought forward with conclusive evidence.

Dr Hasan claimed that the murder case of his father was being taken towards a particular direction without taking important facts into account.

“I am unable to comprehend why authorities are not working on the lines suggested by my father before assassination. It’s a case of religious persecution. He was killed for his moderate views,” he said, while requesting formation of a joint investigation team.

The government, he said, hadn’t provided him (Dr Hasan) with security despite the fact that his car came under an attack a year ago while a mysterious fire incident also occurred at his home this year.

Secretary of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) representative Moiz Khan said: “A lot has come in the media that the police have arrested some facilitators but we see no progress on the ground. It seems that the case is not being followed up.”

Prof Jamil Kazmi, a senior KU teacher who has been pursuing the concerns of aggrieved families of two slain teachers with the government, said: “It’s sad to see that while the government accords due respect to the martyrs of law enforcement agencies, it falls short of giving the same status to teachers who die in the line of duty.”

The families of both Prof Auj and Dr Waheed-ur-Rehman, another KU teacher who was murdered last year, had not been compensated by the government yet, he said.

According to police sources, the case of Prof Auj is pending before an antiterrorism court.

“One of the suspects has been arrested. The case has many aspects on which the police are still working,” said an official familiar with the case details.

Published in Dawn September 18th, 2016