Lahore/Geneva: Lahore-based Pakistani journalist Hasnain Shah was murdered on January 24, 2022. Local media reports that Shah (45) was shot dead by two unidentified bike-riders outside Lahore Press Club in Simla Pahari point on Monday afternoon. A well-known crime reporter of Capital TV (an Urdu-language news channel), Shah was also a member of the Lahore Press Club.
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors along with other journo-bodies condemned the killing and demonstrated their angers on the street.
Pakistan’s information and broadcasting minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also expressed shock and condemned the incident stating that the government stood with the heirs of deceased and the journalist community in this hour of grief. Punjab province government chief Usman Bazdar ordered a probe into the murder and the police have registered a case asserting that they would try their best to nab the culprits.
Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body, while condemning the murder, demanded today justice to the Pak media fraternity. It urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to identify the perpetrators to punish them under the law and offer adequate compensation to the bereaved family comprising his wife and two children.
“New year begins with sad news as eight media workers have lost their lives to assailants within four weeks. Mexico witnessed the murder of three scribes (Jose Luis Gamboa, Margarito Martinez and Lourdes Maldonado), followed by Haiti (Amady John Wesley and Wilguens Louissaint), Kazakhstan (Muratkhan Bazarbayev), Myanmar (Pu Tui Dim) and Pakistan (Hasnain Shah),” said Blaise Lempen, secretary-general of PEC.
PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria said that Pakistan’s neighbour Afghanistan emerged as the most dangerous country for journalists with 12 casualties last year, followed by Mexico (10 dead), Pakistan (7), India (6), the Philippines (4), etc. Pakistan lost media enthusiasts namely Ajay Laalwani, Waseem Alam, Abdul Wahid Raisani, Kashif Hussain, Shahid Zehri, Nazim Samwal Jokhio and Muhammad Zada to assailants during 2021.
– global bihari bureau
