PESHAWAR: Syed Abul Hassan Jaffry, media manager of the Iranian consulate in the city, was shot dead near his home in Gulbarg on Thursday morning.

Mr Jaffry was going to his office when he was shot at point-blank range as he turned his car towards the Swati Phatak.

Cantonment Circle SP Nisar Khan Marwat told Dawn that it appeared to be a sectarian attack. He said there was no eyewitness, but possible more than one assailant had fired at the car from two directions with 30-bore pistols.

Mr Jaffry’s brother-in-law Shah Agha said he had been hit in the head, neck and chest and died in the Combined Military Hospital.

Although he was offered police guards after he had received threats six months ago, he preferred to travel alone.

‘It was a target killing, but it is not clear if he was killed by Americans or it was a sectarian attack. He had no enmity with anyone,’ Mr Agha said.

Amanullah, a family friend, said some suspicious marks had been drawn on the gate of his house last year.

Although this was a clear threat, he was not bothered and went out without a driver or security guards.

Zeeshan Hassan, a colleague of Mr Jaffry, said consulate officials had held two meetings to discuss the issue.
‘He was a nice fellow. He never talked to us about any threat to his life,’ Mr Hassan said.
Mr Jaffry was born in Peshawar in 1953. He worked at the Civil Secretariat but quit the government service after some time.

He worked part time for several newspapers and media organisations, including The Frontier Post, Pakistan Observer, Kasoti, Statesman, PPI, BBC’s Persian service and Herald.

He was also an active member of the Showbiz Journalists’ Association, Green journalists’ Movement, Pak-French Friendship Association and the Pak-China Friendship Association.

He was in-charge of the public relations department and political officer at the consulate. He knew Pashto, English, French, Persian, Arabic and Hindko.

It may be mentioned here that Iranian diplomat Heshmatollah Atharzadeh was kidnapped in Hayatabad on Nov 13, last year, and he is still missing.

Meanwhile, the US embassy has condemned the assassination and said in a statement that the murder of a consulate employee was a new tactic of extremists who wanted to isolate Pakistan in the international community. But they would not succeed, the statement said.

The statement said that the international community firmly supported Pakistani people and their democratic government.