Son wants punishment to terrorists of banned outfits for murder of Dr Shakil Auj

After acquittal of accused of his father’s murder, Dr Hassan Auj, a son of the slain professor Dr Shakil Auj, has said that the banned terrorist outfits were after his father and there are evidences on record in this regard and. He appealed to the authorities to take into account the evidences that he had shared with the police to investigate the case accordingly.

Prof Auj was on his way to the Iranian Cultural Centre in Clifton on Sept 18, 2014 when he was shot dead on University Road near Nipa. A student also sustained wounds in the firing, while Professor Dr Tahir Masood of Mass Communication Department, who was travelling in the same vehicle, remained unhurt.
The son said he was never satisfied with the investigation. He too believed that the acquittal was meant to happen because he, too, believed that Mansoor, said to be a Muttahida Qaumi Movement worker, was not the attacker.
“It was [done by] those who had been threatening my father for long,” he said, adding that he shared the evidence with the investigators but they did not listen.
The case was plotted against the MQM for ulterior motives, the victim’s son said, claiming that his family were not taken on board or informed about progress in the investigation. He appealed to the authorities to take into account the evidences that he had shared with the police to investigate the case accordingly.
“The Counter-Terrorism Department also held some people belonging to the banned outfit in connection with the murder, but they were never charged with the crime,” he complained.
Soon after the arrest of Mansoor in January 2015, the Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo claimed that the suspect was an MQM worker and confessed to his involvement in the murders of Prof Dr Auj and Prof Syed Sibte Jafar.
However, a Wahhabis-allied Deobandi militant group had claimed the responsibility for the murder of Sunni Muslim professor in 2014.
A video message released by Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) a few days after the murder of the professor claimed responsibility for the killing.
Later, the police too stated that AQIS was behind the killing.
On Wednesday, the ATC-VIII judge exonerated the accused person, Mohammad Mansoor, for lack of evidence after recording statements of witnesses and hearing arguments from both sides.