Islamabad: Nov 7, 2008. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the office of leading human rights activist Ansar Burney in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi today, less than a fortnight after the government withdrew his police security. "The gunmen, who came in cars, fired many rounds at the ground floor of the office of the Ansar Burney Trust at Arambagh Road. Luckily, we were upstairs at the time," Burney told PTI shortly after the attack. "We shut the doors and took cover. No one was hurt," said Burney, who was present in the office at the time of the firing. The office staff immediately phoned the police but they reached almost 30 minutes after the incident, he alleged. Earlier in the day, Burney said the decision by Pakistani authorities to withdraw armed guards provided to him appeared to be linked to his recent visit to India to accept an award. Burney, who has received many threats for his work, including his campaign to save Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, had police security for the past 15 years. Five guards posted at his home in Karachi and two armed bodyguards assigned to him were withdrawn on October 25, on the eve of his visit to India to accept the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for human rights and social justice. Burney said no reason had been given so far by authorities for the move. "All the security provided to me has been removed due to my pro-human rights policies, struggle for the release of innocent Indian and Pakistani prisoners and my recent trip to India," he said. "It looks like I am being made to pay a big price for taking up the cause of Indian and other innocent prisoners in Pakistan," he said, adding that he believed the move was also linked to his campaign to get Sarabjit's death sentence converted to life imprisonment. PTI