In Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province, a former chief justice of the Balochistan High Court reportedly died after being shot as he left a mosque after Friday evening prayers. Muhammad Noor Maskanzai, who had sustained several gunshot wounds, passed away on the way to a Quetta hospital, some 280 kilometres from Kharan, the place where he had been shot.
The former chief justice of the Balochistan High Court suffered serious injuries in the targeted shooting as he was leaving the mosque, according to a senior Pak police official. According to DIG Police Nazeer Ahmed Kurd, he had just concluded his prayers and was leaving the mosque when he was shot by unidentified assailants.
He said that two other people were critically hurt in the shooting and were in critical condition at the hospital. One of the most hazardous areas in the Balochistan province is Kharan, which has been the target of an ongoing terror campaign by rebel and anti-government terrorist organisations.
In the recent year, there has been an upsurge in deadly assaults against security officers and facilities, as well as foreign nationals and natives from neighbouring provinces. According to sources, earlier in the day, a remote-controlled bomb attack in Mastung killed three people and injured four others, with the probable target being a high-profile tribal leader and politician who escaped unharmed.
This comes in the wake of the country’s worsening situation on the ground. Pakistan’s State Minister for Law, Shahadat Hussain, said earlier this month that terrorist activity had increased significantly. According to an Islamabad-based think tank, September saw the largest number of terror occurrences in Pakistan this year, owing to the resumption of strikes by the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
September saw 42 terrorist strikes, representing a 35% rise over August. The Pakistani think tank also discovered a 106% surge in violence in the former Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces (KP). According to the think tank, terrorists carried out 31 strikes throughout Pakistan in August of this year, killing 37 people and injuring 55 others.