JournalismPakistan.com
October 17, 2018

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the murder of Haripur journalist Sohail Khan, a reporter with Daily K-2 Times.

“We strongly condemn the killing of Sohail Khan and call upon the KPK government to immediately arrest the culprits,” a joint statement issued by PFUJ President Afzal Butt and Secretary General Ayub Jan Sarhandi said.

The PFUJ leaders noted that Sohail was allegedly murdered by members of a drug mafia for publishing a news story against them.

“We have been told that Sohail was threatened of dire consequences by the drug mafia and he had reported these threats to the police as well,” the joint statement said adding: “PFUJ is disappointed that no protection was provided to the journalist even after his complaint.”

Butt and Sarhandi said that this was the second murder of a journalist in Haripur in a year.

The statement recalled that last year Bakhsheesh Elahi, reporter of Daily K-2 Times was murdered in Haripur but the actual murderers have so far not been arrested by the police.

“Failure to arrest the murderers of Bakhsheesh Elahi speaks volumes about the inefficiency of the KPK Police,” the statement said.

The PFUJ directed its affiliated unions across the country to hold protest meetings to condemn the murder of Sohail and demand arrest of the culprits.