Assailants strike: Irshad Mastoi killed in Quetta shooting
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 28 August 2014
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Irshad Mastoi, Bureau Chief of the Online International News Network, was killed in a shooting in Quetta, along with two others. This incident marks a troubling rise in journalist fatalities in Pakistan.Summary
QUETTA: Undientified assailants gunned down two journalists and an accountant at the Online International News Network in Quetta on Thursday.
Bureau Chief Irshad Mastoi (pictured), reporter Ghulam Rasool and accountant Muhammad Younas were killed in the brazen attack.
According to reports, the incident took place in Kabirwala Building on Jinnah Road where the attackers opened indiscriminate fire killing Ghulam and Younas instantly and leaving Irshad critically injured.
He was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
Irshad, was the General Secretary of Balochistan Union of Journalists and also worked as an Assignment Editor at ARY News.
Following these killings, the number of journalists killed in Pakistan has risen to seven after Shan Dhar (Abb Takk TV), Muhammad Afzal Khawaja (Reporter Balochistan Times and Zamana Quetta); Ijaz Mengal (Daily Intekhab), Ibarar Tanoli (Secretary General Mansehra Press Club) and Shahzad Iqbal (Samaa TV).
Afzal Butt, President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and other journalist unions across the country have condemned the murders and called for immediate arrest of the killers.
Photo courtesy: ARY News
KEY POINTS:
- Irshad Mastoi and two others were shot in Quetta.
- The shooting occurred at Kabirwala Building on Jinnah Road.
- Mastoi was General Secretary of Balochistan Union of Journalists.
- The incident raises the total journalist deaths in Pakistan to seven this year.
- Journalist unions have condemned the murders and demand arrests.
