Another senior journalist killed
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 2 March 2013
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Mehmood Afridi, President of the Kalat Press Club, was shot dead by terrorists in Balochistan. This incident highlights the ongoing threat to journalists in the region.Summary
ISLAMABAD: Mehmood Afridi, a senior journalist and President of the Kalat Press Club was shot dead by terrorists in the restive Balochistan province Friday, newspaper reports said.
Gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on Mehmood when he was at a Public Call Office. He died on the spot.
He worked for Daily Iftikhar and TV-One channel and also taught at the Government Elementary College in Swat.
Mehmood was the third journalist to be killed in six days. On February 27, Malik Mumtaz, a correspondent of The News, Jang and Geo in North Waziristan was gunned down by unidentified men. He was also the President of Minranshah Press Club.
Just two days beforte Mumtaz’s killing, Khushood Ali Sheikh of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) was killed in a hit and run accident in Karachi, although many of his colleagues believe he was targeted.
In January two journalists and a television cameraman were killed in Quetta in a bomb blast while last year five journalists were gunned down in Balochistan.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says there have been no convictions of killers of journalists in Pakistan in the last 10 years.
CPJ research shows that, with 19 unsolved cases, Pakistan's record of impunity has worsened considerably. The country ranks as the 10th worst on CPJ's Global Impunity Index.
KEY POINTS:
- Mehmood Afridi was shot dead at a Public Call Office in Balochistan.
- He was the third journalist killed in six days.
- Previous journalist killings include Malik Mumtaz and Khushood Ali Sheikh.
- The CPJ reports no convictions for journalist murders in the past decade.
- Pakistan ranks as the 10th worst country on the CPJ Global Impunity Index.
