The killing of Syed Saleem Shahzad has highlighted the precarious situation for Pakistan’s brave journalists. Daud Khan Khattak reports
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According to Pakistani news sources, the body of the Pakistan bureau chief for Asia Times Online, has been found. He had been missing since Sunday. Previous reports said that he was under the custody of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Human rights groups claim that the agency has abused and tortured journalists in the past. Saleem Shahzad’s disappearence followed after warnings from Pakistani security agencies over articles that seemed damaging to Pakistan’s national interest and image. Shahza recently covered the Pakistan Taliban’s attack of a naval air force base in Karachi on May 23.
A Pakistani journalist who worked for a local news channel was shot twice on 19 April. Naveed Kamal, 26, was attacked by two unidentified men when coming home from the offices of Metro One TV. Kamal is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital in Karachi. This is the third such attack on journalists in the city. The Karachi Union of Journalists have condemned the attack and called on the police to improve the safety and security of journalists.
The chief crime reporter for the Urdu-language daily Extra New was gunned down in Karachi on 2 April. Zaman Ali was the 14th Pakistani journalist to be killed in the last 13 months. Witnesses claimed that he was murdered shortly after attending a gathering of Benazir Bhutto supporters, his assailants have not been caught. Pakistan’s Crime Reporters Association condemned his murder, calling for greater protection for working journalists.