HYDERABAD: The Central Minister for Education, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, today [April 28] narrowly escaped when a youth armed with a pistol attacked him at the new campus of the Sind University at Jamshoro. Mr Pirzada had arrived here this morning from Karachi by road to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Law at the Convocation held at the University campus at 9 a.m. today.

The Police and pro-Government students overpowered the assailant, Ismail Wasan, and recovered a pistol from his possession. In the melee someone fired a revolver and seriously wounded a Police constable. The Police … opened fire in the air to disperse a group of students belonging to the Jeay Sind Students Federation, who tried to overwhelm the Police and whisk away the assailant from Police custody.

Mr Pirzada was taken aback by this sudden attack but controlled himself and left by his car for Karachi. According to a report a Police constable, who was hit by a bullet, was in serious condition at the Civil Hospital. The unruly students were raising slogans of “Jeeay Sind”, “Bihari Na Khapan”. … Due to ugly scene at the university campus, the convocation ended in fiasco and 3,000 students could not receive their degrees. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023