A New York-based journalist protection organisation has denounced the killing of a private TV channel reporter in the volatile Bajaur tribal region, near the border with Afghanistan.
Mohammed Ibrahim, a correspondent of the Express TV channel, was sprayed with bullets near Inayat Kalai while he was going to his village from Mamond tehsil on a motorcycle. The newsman died on the way to hospital.
Bob Dietz, Asia programme co-ordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a press statement: "We offer our condolences to Mohammed Ibrahims family and colleagues."
He stressed the new government, led by the People's Party, must take immediate steps to investigate the murder and safeguard the journalists providing important reporting from the restive border region. Also general secretary of the Tribal Union of Journalists (Bajaur unit), Ibrahim was gunned down outside Khar while returning from an interview with local Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar. The assailants took away his bike, camera and cell-phone.
His killing triggered strong protests from the Tribal Union of Journalists and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), with both journalist bodies urging the government and media owners to take steps for journalists safety.
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