SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Learn more.

Date of Incident: January 07, 2014

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):Hashmat Ali College Rawalpindi

Region & Country:Southern Asia | Pakistan

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On the morning of January 7, 2014, Professor Syed Nazeer Hussain Umrani, a teacher at Hashmat Ali College in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and the Imam of a local Shia Mosque, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles, while en route to the college.  Despite the presence of several eyewitnesses, no information was available as to the identity or motive of the attackers.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the apparently targeted killing of a professor. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and freedom of expression in the region. State authorities have a responsibility to ensure the security of academic communities, to prevent future attacks, and to hold perpetrators of violent attacks accountable.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/islamabad/09-Jan-2014/shia-professor-shot-in-rawalpindi
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/01/08/city/professor-shot-down-in-rawalpindi/
http://www.samaa.tv/rfer%20h%20dead%20i%20rawaidi-75751-1.html