Islamabad, May 19: A Pakistani journalist was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the restive southwest Balochistan province, the fourth scribe to be killed in as many months in the country ranked by UNESCO as “the second most dangerous” in the world for reporters.
The body of Razzaq Gul was found this morning in Turbat, a town in Balochistan, his brother said.
Gul had been working for the Express Group of publications, one of the leading media houses in Pakistan.
He was associated with the group for 10 years.
The group announced that Gul was killed following his abduction by unidentified men while returning home.
Police found Gul's body near a hospital. His motorcycle was lying near the body.
No group claimed responsibility for the killing. Police officials said they were trying to ascertain the motive for the murder.
Gul's family said he had no enmity with anyone. His brother said the reporter had not received any threat.
Doctors said Gul was shot three times and that his brother had identified the body in hospital.
The mysterious murder of yet another journalist has again raised concerns among reporters in Pakistan.
Gul was murdered more than a week after Auranzeb Tunio, a reporter working for local KTN channel, was gunned down by unidentified men along with his brother and a friend in Sindh.
Earlier on January 17, Mukarram Khan Atif, a journalist working for the Voice of America, was shot dead by Taliban militants at Shabqadar town in northwest Pakistan, while Murtaza Razvi, a senior assistant editor in Dawn, was found murdered in an office apartment in Karachi on April 19.
A recent UNESCO report spoke of a dramatic increase in the number of media persons killed in Pakistan.
