Pakistan senior journalist shot dead in Sukkur of Sindh Province
Pakistani senior journalist Jan Mohammad Mahar was shot dead by motorcycle-borne unknown armed miscreants in Sukkur, located in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The incident occurred near St. Saviour School on Queens Road on Sunday evening.
The motorcycle-borne men shot several rounds at Mahar who was in his car. Mahar received gunshot wounds to his head and eyes. He was rushed to a private hospital in an extremely serious condition.
Mahar was associated with a private Sindhi newspaper and its TV channel. He succumbed to his wounds while doctors were performing a surgery on him. Pakistan police officials suspect an old enmity between the parties as a motive behind the attack but a probe has been launched to ascertain the reason.
A hunt for the attackers has been launched. The press community in Pakistan has been shocked to hear about the demise of Mahar. Media personnel gathered at the hospital soon after learning about the incident.
Freedom of the press in Pakistan has been muzzled and attacks on journalists have grown in the recent years.
Journalist Zubair Anjum who is an executive producer with famed Pakistan-based news outlet GeoNews was picked up by plainclothes men accompanied by cops in June. Journalist Sami Abraham also was abducted on May 25 and returned on May 30.
There are suspicions that these two journalists were arrested for being critical of the government response to May 9 riots sparked by the arrest of Imran Khan at the hands of Pakistan National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Eminent news anchor Imran Riaz Khan still remains missing and the Lahore High Court gave authorities time until July 25 to find out his whereabouts.
He was also apprehended following the May 9 protests that rocked Pakistan.
The death of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya also shocked Pakistanis.
The Pakistan government told the Senate earlier in January that at least 42 journalists died while performing their duties between 2019 and 2023.
