PESHAWAR:
A senior official of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) was gunned down outside his office in Peshawar on Friday morning in an apparent case of targeted killing.
The incident took place in front of the NADRA Region Office in the upscale Hayatabad neighbourhood.
Eyewitnesses said NADRA deputy assistant director Fahad was walking toward his office building after parking his car in a lot across the street when unknown assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on him.
According to police, the NADRA official died on the spot as the attackers fled the scene unchallenged. The gruesome incident was also captured on a CCTV footage widely circulated on social media.
Soon after the incident, police and security forces reached the site and cordoned it off to collect evidence. The police also established pickets across the city and launched a search operation.
Sources said investigators were collecting CCTV footage from neighbouring buildings. They said police were also looking into the CCTV recordings at the Peshawar Safe City project to identify the killers. They were also investigating the possibility of some personal enmity.
According to some officials, the police had found images of the assailants and had also shared them with NADRA for identification.
Officials said the assistant director, who was a nephew of MNA Noor Alam Khan, usually arrived at the office with guards in a bullet-proof car, but on Friday he arrived alone, driving his vehicle.
NADRA was established during Musharraf era in a bid to create a comprehensive database of Pakistan’s citizens.
The institution in the past couple of years has cancelled thousands of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) issued to foreign nationals particularly Afghan refugees as part of a government campaign which also includes repatriation of Afghans who have been living in Pakistan for decades.
