Thursday, February 24, 2011

CPJ: Pakistani Journalist Killed in Volatile SW

CPJ: Pakistani Journalist Killed in Volatile SW

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 at 1:00 am UTC
Posted 1 day ago

The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists called Tuesday for a swift investigation into the killing of Pakistani journalist Abdost Rind in the southwestern province of Baluchistan.

According to the PFUJ and the local media, the 27-year-old reporter with the Urdu-language Daily Eagle newspaper was gunned down on February 18 in the Turbat area. The assailants managed to escape.

Asia program coordinator for the New York-based CPJ, Bob Dietz, said “Pakistan's reputation as a country where journalists are killed with impunity is among the worst in the world.” Dietz added that “to allow Rind's death to go uninvestigated and unprosecuted will only add to that miserable record.”

It is not clear whether Rind was targeted for his work as a journalist.

Earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Pakistan was the deadliest nation in the world for journalists.

In a 2010 report titled “Attacks on the Press,” the group said eight journalists were killed for their work in Pakistan last year, adding they face threats from both the Taliban and the ISI, Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence agency.

The CPJ is an independent, not-for-profit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

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