Senior journalist Haroon Khan gunned down in Swabi
Swabi: Unidentified armed men shot dead a journalist in Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province late on Thursday. “Haroon Khan correspondent Waqt TV channel was targeted at around 8:25 PM outside his house by two unidentified assailants when he was returning after offering prayers.His bullet ridden body was removed to hospital where doctors announced his death on arrival.Police recovered seven to eight empty shells of AK-47 rifle from the scene of the crime. The assailants, Police said, were on foot.The motive of this murder is still to be determined.
Haroon Khan is seventh journalist who was killed in Pakistan this year as per monitoring of the Rural Media Network Pakistan (RMNP).In a statement RMNP strongly condemned the killing of journalist Haroon Khan and demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.RMNP also demanded of Pakistan government to adopt solid steps to guarantee the safety of journalists and end the culture of impunity which prevails across the country.To date 128 journalists had been killed in Pakistan since 2006,majority of them are rural journalists and district correspondents,while only five cases have been successfully prosecuted.
Mean while a other report says that Inspector General (IG) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Salah-ud-Din Khan has taken notice of the murder of Haroon Khan, a correspondent of Daily Akhbar-e-Khyber from Swabi, who was killed outside his home yesterday.
The IG issued directives of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mardan to arrest the culprits and conduct a fair and transparent investigation of the incident.
Journalists’ circles in Peshawar have lauded IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for taking notice of the matter and demanded of the IG to personally look into the matter.
Meanwhile, some journalists have lodged a report against the step brothers of the deceased Haroon Khan saying that the two sides had developed differences over the ownership of land.
Source. RMNP