Muhammad Bachal Ghunio
Ghotki/Geneva: Yet another Pakistani journalist has been killed, the ninth this year. This time the killing happened in the Sindh province of Pakistan where Muhammad Bachal Ghunio, a reporter for Awaaz Television, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the riverine area of Rounti in Sindh’s Ghotki district on August 26, 2024.
While the victim’s family members organised a protest demonstration in front of the senior police officer’s office in Mirpur Mathelo, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah condoled Ghunio’s demise and directed the police to nab the culprits.
Organised criminal gangs are reportedly active in the riverine border areas of southern Sindh and today, they killed a policemen and injured two others, during an anti-bandit operation carried out in the riverine areas of Sindh, according to a statement from the Rangers spokesperson. The statement added that a “most wanted bandit” was killed in retaliatory firing while two bandits escaped with injuries.
The police hold the bandits of the region responsible for the killing of Ghunio too.
Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights organization, today expressed “utter dismay” over the relentless killing of journalists in the South Asian country. PEC president Blaise Lempen expressed his shock that a country of around 250 million population has recorded nine journo-murders to date this year. He urged the highest government authorities in Islamabad to investigate all relevant cases to unearth the truth and punish the culprits involved with the murder of all scribes in Pakistan.
Press Emblem Campaign’s South and Southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria revealed that before Ghunio, the journalists who were killed in Pakistan so far this year were namely Malik Hassan Zaib, Khalil Afridi Jibran, Nasrullah Gadani, Kamran Dawar, Mehar Ashfaq Siyal, Maulana Mohammad Siddique Mengal, Jam Saghir Ahmad Lar and Tahira Nosheen Rana.
– global bihari bureau
