The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is shocked to hear of the killing
of Abdost Rind, a 27-year-old journalist in the Turbat area of Balochistan
province in Pakistan’s
south-west.
According
to information received from IFJ affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists
(PFUJ), Rind – a reporter with Daily
Eagle, an Urdu-language newspaper – was shot four times by unidentified
assailants on motorcycles as he returned home from work on the evening of
February 18. He died immediately.
He is the
second media worker to be killed in Balochistan this year, after the death of Ilyas
Nazar, who was found dead in Pidarak on January 5.
The IFJ’s
recent report on journalists and media workers
killed in 2010 identifies Pakistan
as the single most dangerous place in the world for the profession. Of the 16
journalists and media workers killed in Pakistan last year, six were in Balochistan,
geographically the country’s largest, though also the most thinly populated.
“For too
long, conflict and the risks for media personnel in Balochistan have gone relatively
unnoticed, with most attention focused on the war consuming Pakistan’s northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
province and Tribal Areas,” IFJ Asia-Pacific
Director Jacqueline Park said.
“The
crisis of media safety compels the global community to immediately step forward
with a gesture of solidarity and support for the beleaguered journalists of
Balochistan.”
Rind’s
family believes his killing is directly related to his work as a journalist.
However, the link requires verification.
The IFJ
joins the PFUJ in demanding that authorities in Balochistan act quickly to
investigate Rind’s death, to send a message to those responsible that
journalists’ killers will not go unpunished.
“We extend
our deepest condolences to the family of the slain journalist and call upon the
federal and provincial authorities to extend all possible support to them in
this hour of need,” Park said.
The 2010
toll of journalists and media workers killed in Balochistan:
- Hameed Marwa, killed February 17 in Quetta
- Malik Arif, April 16 in Quetta
- Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli, June 27 in Khuzdar
- Mohammad Sarwar, September 3 in Quetta
- Ejaz Ahmad Raisani, September 6 in Quetta
- Abdul Hameed Hayatan, November 18 in Turbat
For further
information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ
represents more than 600,000 journalists in 125 countries
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