HYDERABAD, Jan. 2: Prof Bashir Ahmed Channar, Director, Student Affairs, University of Sindh, was killed in an armed attack at the Jamshoro campus on Monday.

Two assailants on a motorcycle opened fire at Prof Channar near Allama I.I. Kazi’s mausoleum when he slowed down his car on a speed breaker, said Dr Azhar Shah, president, Sindh University Teachers Association (SUTA).

He said that a security guard returned fire and injured one of the attackers, but could not prevent them from escaping.

Rashid Khuhro, a lecturer, said Prof Channar was attacked when he was returning home from his office. He was taken to the Liaquat University Hospital, but died of injuries.

According to Dr Kashif, of the Liaquat Hospital, the professor received four bullets from an automatic gun.

“One bullet pierced through his heart and one each hit him in the chest, abdomen and arm,” the doctor said.

Deputy Registrar of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Dr Saroop Bhatia, said the body was being taken to Hyderabad’s Civil Hospital for autopsy.

The university has seen a wave of protest by groups of students affiliated with political parties after the administration rusticated 19 students and banned the entry of four former students in the campus, blaming them for creating law and order situation.

Involvement of such students in the killing could not be ruled out, said an office-bearer of the SUTA.

However, it was up to the police to investigate the incident from different angles, he added.

The slain official would be buried in his family graveyard in the Kandiaro area of Noshehro Feroze district, said Ghulam Nabi Kaka, general secretary of the Sindh University Officers’ Association.

Mr Channar was appointed as the director of student affairs after he retired as professor three years ago.

Our Hyderabad bureau adds: Mr Channar, 62, is survived by wife, three sons and three daughters.

Vice Chancellor Dr Nazir A. Mughal has condemned the killing and said Mr Channar was one of the best teachers of microbiology and a good administrator.

The VC has named the microbiology department as Professor Basheer Ahmed Institute of Microbiology and  announced that one of his offspring would be provided job in the university.

The vice-chancellor announced that the university would remain closed on Tuesday and a seven-day mourning would be observed.

Meanwhile, the university officers association, at an emergency meeting, expressed grief over the murder of the professor and appealed to political parties, NGOs and human rights organisations to cooperate with the university administration for arrest of the killers.

The meeting appealed to the governor, the chief minister, the IG of Sindh and the university vice-chancellor to ensure arrest of the killers and also that they were awarded exemplary punishment.

The meeting called for “emergency” measures to restore peace and order at the campus.