Sabeen Mahmud, the director of The Second Floor (T2F) cafe which organises debates and art events, was attacked by gunmen yesterday after she left the venue in her car along with her mother.
She died on her way to the hospital. Doctors said they retrieved five bullets from her body.
Her mother also sustained bullet wounds. She is said to be in critical condition, Dawn newspaper reported.
T2F had yesterday organised a talk on Baluchi nationalists who often disappear in the country's southwestern Baluchistan province.