Targeted attack: Express News staffer shot dead in Hafizabad

Yaqoob Shehzad worked with the channel since its launch.

LAHORE: Gunmen shot dead Express News correspondent in Hafizabad district, Yaqoob Shehzad, on Sunday. Shehzad was sitting in the office of a friend in the city’s busiest Sagar Road neighbhourhood when the attack took place around noon, the slain journalist’s brother, Muhammad Farooq, told The Express Tribune.

Quoting eyewitnesses, Farooq said that two men riding on a motorcycle came to the building where the office is located. One of the men entered the office and shot Shehzad in the head. Before exiting, the gunman also shot and injured an office employee, identified as Amjad.

After a while the gunman returned to the office and fired two more gunshots at the injured man, according to Amjad. He added that there were three persons in the double-storey building and Shehzad’s friend, Imtiaz Taj, had gone to bathroom upstairs when the incident happened.

Shehzad was driven to the Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Zubair Dareshak told The Express Tribune that they have collected vital forensic evidence from the spot. “We will also get record of Yaqoob Shehzad to look for further clues,” he added.

DPO Dareshak said that the police would also quiz the injured man, Amjad, once his condition stablised. “The police will examine the news stories Shehzad had reported in the past to see if any of his story offended someone and if he was targeted because of his work,” he added.

According to the police, the area where the incident took place is the busiest area of the city but no one could note down the motorcycle’s registration number.

The police suspect that the killer used a silencer on his weapon as Shehzad’s friend said that he didn’t hear the gunshots in his office downstairs. The police said they would also examine the CCTV footage from a bank located near the office to identify the killers.

After the incident, local journalists gathered at the hospital and staged a protest against the administration and police. They chanted slogans against police high-ups and dispersed after DPO Dareshak assured them that the killers would be arrested within three days.

Shehzad had been working with Express News since the channel was launched. He was also the chairperson of the Hafizabad press club. Daily Express reporter Rana Arshad was also shot and injured by gunmen a month ago. Arshad, who survived the attack, told The Express Tribune that the Hafizabad police had found no clue to the attackers.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of Shehzad’s murder and directed DPO Dareshak to submit a report within 24 hours. Other senior politicians, including PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and the PPP’s Qamar Zaman Kaira also condemned the murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2014.