Two journalists murdered in less than a week

Reporters Without Borders is extremely shocked by the murders of two journalists in the past week in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh. The bodies of Tariq Kamal, a 35-year-old reporter with a local Sindhi-language newspaper, and his friend Fawad Shaikh, 31, were found by police two days ago in the provincial capital, Karachi. The following day, Aurangzeb Tunio, a reporter with the Sindhi-language television station Kawaish Television Network, was killed in the Qambar Shahdadkot district, together with his brother and a friend. “We offer our condolences to the families and colleagues of the victims and we urge the police to conduct a thorough investigation, and do not rule out the possibility that the motives may be linked to the journalism activities of Tariq Kamal and Aurengzeb Tunio,” Reporters Without Borders said. “With 10 journalists killed last year and four since the start of 2012, Pakistan is one of the deadliest countries in the world for those working in the media. The Pakistani authorities must realize the urgency of the situation and make every effort to ensure the safety of journalists, especially those who work in high-risk areas.” Murder of Tariq Kamal and his friend The bodies of Tariq Kamal and his friend Fawad Shaikh were found near the police station in the Pak Colony neighbourhood. They were riddled with bullets and showed signs of torture. The two men were reported missing on 6 May. Their families had received calls from their abductors saying they planned to kill them because they were police informers. The call to Kamal’s family was made from the journalist’s own mobile phone. The police are trying to reconstruct events with the help of recordings of the phone conversations. According to Kamal’s brother, the journalist had set off for Vinder in Balochistan Province with his friend on a reporting trip. Murder of Aurangzeb Tunio, his brother and friend Kawaish Television Network reporter Aurangzeb Tunio, his brother Rustam Tunio and a friend, Deedar Khaskheli were killed yesterday in the village of Lalu Ranwak. They were all in the journalist’s office when a group of armed men entered and opened fire. No motive for the triple murder has yet been established. It may be linked to a dispute between two local clans or, as Aurengzeb Tunio’s colleagues believe, it could be related to his professional activities. The murders occurred just weeks after that of Murtaza Razvi, an assistant editor with the English-language daily Dawn, whose body was found in Karachi on 19 April. The Sindhi capital has seen numerous attacks journalists. Wali Khan Babar, a reporter with Geo News TV, and Zaman Ali of the Urdu-language newspaper Extra News were both murdered there last year.