11 journalists killed in Pakistan in 2013: Report

Report states five of them were killed while covering bomb blasts, six others lost their lives in targeted killings.

KARACHI:
Eleven journalists were killed in 2013, according to a report released by the Media Monitoring Cell of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE).

The report stated that five of the journalists were martyred when they were covering bomb blasts while six others lost their lives in targeted killings.

On January 11, Samaa TV reporter Saifur Rehman and cameraman Imran Shaikh died while covering a bomb blast on Alamdar Road in Quetta, when a second bomb exploded.

A photographer of NNI news agency Muhammad Iqbal and INP news agency's photographer Muhammad Hussain also lost their lives in the same incident.

On February 27, Geo TV reporter Malik Muhammad Mumtaz was shot dead by terrorists in North Waziristan.

In the same month, a reporter of a local daily Shaikh Ali Mohsin was gunned down near his house in Karachi.


A correspondent of daily Intikhab Mehmood Khan Afridi was murdered by unidentified armed men on March 1 when he was returning home from his office.

Tariq Aslam, a sub-editor of Daily Pakistan was killed in a bomb blast that took place at a corner meeting of a political party in Peshawar on April 17.

The Karachi correspondent of Baloch language Tawwar Abdul Razaq Sarbazi was kidnapped from Lyari in March. His body, which bore torture marks, was found after 44 days from Surjani Town area of the metropolis.

On May 24, Ahmed Ali Joya of Express Tribune was shot dead by unidentified armed men in Bhawalnagar.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a correspondent of Kharak Times Ayub Khattak was shot dead outside his house.

A number of incidents of harassment and revenge attacks also took place during the year of 2013. In one such incident, chief reporter of APP Khushnood Ali Shaikh was killed in a hit-and-run incident. However, his family maintains he was murdered as he had been receiving calls for extortion after he purchased a new house.

The CPNE has called for arrest of the killers of the journalists and demanded compensation for their families.
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