Afghan journalist shot dead in northwestern Pakistan

Reporters Without Borders is shocked and saddened to learn that Janullah Hashimzada, an Afghan journalist based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, was killed today in an armed attack on the minibus in which he was travelling near the town of Jamrud in the northwestern Khyber Agency. “We offer our condolences to Janullah Hashimzada’s family and friends,” Reporters Without Borders said. “His murder highlights the sharp decline in the security situation in Pakistan, especially in the western Tribal Areas, where journalists are less and less free to move about.” The press freedom organisation added: “We urge the authorities to investigate this targeted killing properly with the aim of identifying its perpetrators and instigators and bringing them to justice. The impunity prevailing in the region must be combated.” Operating in plain view of other people, three masked men opened fire with pistols on the minibus, killing Hashimzada instantly and wounding another passenger, one of the passengers told a journalist. Hashimzada had been heading back to Peshawar from the border area at the time of the attack. His body was taken to a hospital in Jamrud. Aged 37 and a student at Peshawar university’s journalism school, Hashimzada worked for several Afghan and Pakistani news media including the Afghan TV station Shamshad, the Pashtun newspapers Vahdat and Sahar. He had also worked for the Afghan independent news agency Pajhwok for the past four years. Friends said he covered sensitive issues and had been subjected to threats and pressure during the past three weeks to abandon his journalistic work and leave Peshawar. The head of Pajhwok, Danish Karokhel, told Reporters Without Borders: “He was a professional journalist who covered major stories on the other side of the border. The key to identifying his murderers is to establish who had an interest in preventing the dissemination of the information he possessed.” Located between Afghanistan and Peshawar and part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the Khyber Agency is a strategic region that is wracked by Taliban violence. Hashimzada was the fifth journalist to be killed this year in Pakistan, now the world’s second deadliest country for the media. One other Afghan journalist has been killed this year.