Media Release: Pakistan
April 30, 2012
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in expressing grief at the death of journalist Arif Shafi as a result of a suicide bombing in Peshawar on April 29th.
Arif Shafi, a 37 year old Peshawar-based freelance journalist, was one of the ten people killed in the deadly explosion. Shafi had stopped to buy a newspaper after dropping his son to school when the bomb exploded. Shafi trained at The News International and was working as an editor for the English Pajhwok Afghan News in Kabul. He is survived by a wife and three children.
Arif is the ninth journalist killed in Pakistan in 2013 and the third in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Tribal Areas, the northwestern province bordering Afghanistan. Just two weeks ago another journalist Tariq Aslam Durrani was killed in a suicide attack on an election gathering in Peshawar. In a statement, Yousef Ali said, “We express deep shock at the sad demise of another colleague of ours and express our sympathies with the bereaved family.”
“The deaths of Mr. Arif Shafi and Tariq Aslam Durrani draw acute attention to the extreme dangers faced by journalists working in conflict areas”, said IFJ Director Jacqueline Park, “We extend our deepest condolences to the family of Arif Shafi and call upon the federal authorities to extend all possible support to them in this hour of need.”
Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, with 11 journalists killed in the course of their work in 2012 and ten killed in the four months of 2013.
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