Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Dec 15 (PTI) As many as 12 journalists were killed in Pakistan this year alone, media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said today.

The statement came a day after gunmen shot dead journalist Muhammad Khan Sasoli in Khuzdar, a town in the southwestern province of Balochistan that sees frequent clashes between security forces and armed Baloch nationalists.

Sasoli, 36, was a correspondent of Royal TV and INP news agency and president of the Khuzdar Press Club.

He was shot four times in the head and chest by two men on motorcycle waiting outside his house and died instantly.

RWB urged Pakistani authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation into the murders of Sasoli and three other journalists killed in Balochistan this year.

"Only by arresting and punishing their murderers will the authorities be able to put a stop to the violence against Pakistani journalists, which has reached an unprecedented level in 2010," the group said.

RWB also said it was "deplorable" that since US reporter Daniel Pearl''s murder in 2002, no one has been brought to trial in Pakistan for the crime.

In a separate report, the Committee to Protect Journalists said at least eight members of the media were killed this year in Pakistan in connection with their work.

The group''s year-end analysis said Pakistan topped the list of journalism-related fatalities.

It added that six journalists died in suicide attacks.
PTI RHL