Ex-CJ BHC Noor Meskanzai killed in Kharan gun attack

• Former CJ BHC targeted in Kharan.
• Noor Meskanzai was offering prayers at a mosque when attacked.
• Police launch search operation in area to nab attackers. 

QUETTA: Former chief justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), Justice Muhammad Noor Meskanzai has been killed in a gun attack in Kharan, Geo News reported on Friday.

Meskanzai was shot dead while offering Isha prayers at a mosque. The Quetta Bar Association has announced three-day mourning and a boycott of the courts.

"The former CJ BHC came to offer Isha prayers at the mosque near his residence located in Gazai area of Kharan. The unidentified miscreants opened fire at him," DIG Rakhshan Division Nazir Ahmed Kurd told Geo News. 

"Being critically injured with gunshot wounds in the abdomen area, he was rushed to the Civil Hospital Kharan for medical treatment. However, he succumbed to injuries."

One of his relatives, Mumtaz, was wounded in the attack.

In response, the police and the FC cordoned off the area and began a search operation for the attackers.

Noor Meskanzai was born in Kharan on September 1, 1956. He took oath as Chief Justice of the High Court of Balochistan on December 26, 2014 and retired on August 31, 2018. 

Later, he was appointed as the chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court and served until 2022.

Both the governor and chief minister of the province expressed grief at his death.