August 25, 2008
Irshad Akhtar, Aaj TV and Asaap
Aslam Jahangir, ARY TV and Nawa-e-Waqat
Gulzar Baloch, Samaa TV and Bakhabar
Saleem Buzdar, Geo TV
ATTACKED
The four journalists sustained minor injuries after Pakistani paramilitary forces fired on a rally they were covering in the town of Turbat, Baluchistan province.
Officers of the Frontier Corps fired indiscriminately while trying to subdue a public memorial meeting on the second anniversary of the death of politician Nawab Akbar Bugti, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and a local press club representative.
Irshad Akhtar was shot in the leg and had to be treated in a Turbat hospital, according to Shahzada Zulfiqar, president of the Quetta press club. Gulzar Baloch also received a minor gunshot injury, while Aslam Jahangir and Saleem Buzdar were burned by tear gas shells, according to Zulfiqar.
Buzdar was also injured by crowds fleeing the firing and was moved to a Karachi hospital for treatment, Zulfiqar told CPJ. His injuries were not serious.
Nawab Akbar Bugti, a tribal leader and provincial governor with support among Baloch nationalist groups waging a violent independence campaign against the state, was killed during military strikes in August 2006, according to news reports.