Unknown gunmen kill senior journalist in Haripur
HARIPUR: Bakshish Elahi, the Bureau Chief of K-2 Times Urdu daily newspaper in Haripur was shot dead by unknown motorbike-borne gunmen near his home at Lora Chowk, Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhw on Sunday.. The gunmen fled the scene after firing five shots at Elahi, one of which hit his head and others his chest and stomach.His body was shifted to Women and Children Hospital Haripur and later, after completing medico-legal formalities, was handed over to his heirs for burial. Sara-e-Saleh police have registered a case and started investigation.
Martyred Bakhshish Elahi was laid to rest at his native village. A large number of people belonging to different walks of life including journalists, traders, lawyers, teachers and politicians participated in his Nimaz-e- Janaza.Members of the Haripur Press Club staged a sit-in near Panya Chowk to protest against Elahi’s killing, blocking the GT road. while the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) and the National Press Club (NPC) Islamabad protested outside the National Press Club tody on Monday and demanded of government for the immediate arrest of killers. Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb Sunday strongly condemned the heinous murder of a Haripur- based senior journalist. Expressing her heartfelt condolences with the family of the deceased, she advised the MNA from NA-19 Babar Nawaz Khan to employ all possible means to help the family in this hour of distress and bereavement.
Elahi is the fifth journalist to be killed in 2017 in Since 2005 126 journalists have been killed as per RMNP monitoring , making Pakistan one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
Meanwhile Presiedent RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar has condemned the killing of Bakshish Elahi in Haripur.He said that targeted killing of yet another journalist is tragic news as Pakistan has failed to improve the security for journalists despite seeing a large number of journalists and media workers have been killed brutally killed over the last few years. President RMNP stated that it was duty of government to take necessary measures for protection of journalists in the field and to ensure their well being. He said that freedom of expression was right of every one and taking steps to ensure that the media persons could perform their duty in a safe and secure environment was duty of the government. He demanded of the government for earliest arrest of the murderers of Bakhshish Elahi and taking steps for protection of the journalist community for provision of a fearless environment to them for performance of their duties.
