Renowned Soazkhwan and Distinguished Shair e Ahlebait (as), Shaheed Syed Sibte Jafar Zaidi.

Founder of Idaara-e-Tarveej-e-Soazkhwani (ITS) Professor Sibt-e-Jafar was also prominent educationist and the principal of Government Degree College, Qasimabad. He was shot dead in a targeted attack in Liaquatabad on Monday, March 18, 2013.

Professor Jafar, 50, had left the college on his motorcycle in the afternoon when two assailants on a motorcycle fired a volley of bullets at him near Arshee Chowk. The injured was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH)

"All his life, Jafar kept an old motorcycle but you needed to call him only once for help in any personal or academic matter and he would arrive at the appointed place," recalled Prof Mirza Athar Hussain, a former president of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA).

"He was a devoted marsiya khwan and trained hundreds of students in the art," he said, adding that the slain professor even established an institute to teach the art of writing and reciting marsiya [elegy]. About 5,000 students are enrolled at the institute.

Jafar's students too remember him for his simplicity and love for Urdu poetry, especially in the elegy genre. He was well-versed in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. Jafar also authored several books and wrote thousands of marsiyas and nohas.

To protest the murder, professors and lecturers have announced boycotting academic activities on Tuesday across the province, said SPLA President Prof Iftikhar Azmi. All colleges will be closed on Tuesday.

Three-day mourning

Criticising the government, judiciary and law enforcers on their failure to protect Shia citizens, the MWM announced three days of mourning over the untimely deaths of Jafar and senior lawyer Zaheer Abbas Naqvi.

MWM Secretary General Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri said the people of Pakistan had lost a great teacher, poet and humanitarian in Jafar. "His brutal murder is tantamount to the murder of Urdu literature and marsiya."

The Shia Ulema Council also condemned the murder of the professor.