Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the killing of prominent rights activist Sabeen Mahmud who was shot dead minutes after she hosted a seminar on abuses in troubled Baluchistan province.
Police said Mahmud, who runs The Second Floor, a cafe in Karachi that organises debates and art events, was killed late on Friday when gunmen attacked her car as she departed with her mother from the venue in the upmarket Defence neighbourhood.
Mahmud was hit by five bullets and died at the scene, police said. Her mother was wounded.
Mama Abdul Qadeer, a prominent Baluch rights activist and a speaker at the seminar, said Mahmud had received threats before the event. “The programme organisers were already receiving threats.... it is very difficult to talk about Baluchistan in Pakistan,” Qadeer said on Saturday.