New York, May 11, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murders of a local Pakistani journalist, his brother, and a friend, and calls on authorities to immediately investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Gunmen in a group of about 20 shot Aurangzeb Tunio, a TV reporter for the news bureau of the Sindhi-language Kawaish Television Network, along with Rustam Tunio, his brother, and Deedar Khaskheli, a family friend, on Thursday night, according to news reports. The three men were in Aurangzeb’s office, which served as the local bureau of the broadcaster, in Lalu Ranwak village in the province of Sindh, about 535 miles (850 kilometers) south of Islamabad, the capital, news reports said.
The attackers were angry about a story Aurangzeb had aired about a failed marriage attempt between a man from the Tunio tribal group and a woman from the rival Mughairi clan, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and local journalists. The journalists said the gunmen were members of the Mughairi tribe. There is tension between the many tribal groups that exist in Sindh.
“We condemn these murders and call on Pakistani authorities to move swiftly to bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must send a clear message that there is no place for such violence.”
CPJ ranked Pakistan the most dangerous country for journalists in 2010 and 2011. Since 1992, at least 42 Pakistani journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work.
- For more data and analysis on Pakistan, visit CPJ’s Attacks on the Press.