IBA University Sukkur Deputy Director murdered over tribal dispute

Deputy Director at IBA University Sukkur Prof. Dr Ajmal Sawand was murdered on Thursday in Sindh’s Kandhkot area reportedly over a tribal dispute.

According to the police, shooters suspected to be from the Sundrani clan gunned down Dr Ajmal Sawand because of an ongoing enmity over “honour”.

As reported, he was on his way back to Sukkur from his Shawli village when attackers holed up in the woods along the road and opened fire at his car in the Shalo area of Kandhkot, killing him on the spot.

He was an Assistant Professor at Sukkur IBA University and held a PhD from Paris Descartes Univer­sity, France in Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Sawand had been working for the institute for the last eight years.

Social media has been in an uproar over the brutal killing of Dr Ajmal Sawand.

 

 

According to the SSP Kandhkot, police had cordoned off the area and raids were being carried out in various places to apprehend the suspected killers of Dr Ajmal Sawand.

SSP Kandhkot Irfan Ali Samo shared some details of the dispute, he said that two groups of Sundrani and Sawand clans were at loggerheads since 2022 due to a clash that erupted between them on a matter of “honour”.

A woman and four men belonging to the Sundrani clan lost their lives in the clash that happened last year, the SSP said.

Soon after that last year’s clash, the group belonging to the Sawand clan abandoned their homes and fled the Shawli village, in an apparent move to escape reprisal, SSP added.

Sources claim that the honour dispute involved a girl from the Sundrani clan and a man from the Sawand community. The man was murdered in September after being declared ‘Karo’ while the fate of the girl, declared ‘Kari’, however, remains unclear.

Scores of armed people belonging to the Sawand community and locals rushed to the spot where the ambush took place and shifted the professor’s body to the Taluka hospital.

The body of the deceased was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination later in the day.

Dr Ajmal Sawand’s funeral prayer was offered on Thursday evening in Society Area, Sukkur.

Teachers, students, government officials and people from all walks of life attended Prof Sawand’s funeral.