Armed men shot Hajizai, a headmaster of a middle school who
also worked at WASH TV, a private Baluchi-language TV channel, according to
local news reports. The journalist was taken to a hospital, where he died, the
reports said.
Hajizai was killed in the Basima area of Washik district,
home of the Shamsi Air Field, which was used by the United States as a base for
surveillance and drone operations against militants in Pakistan’s Federally
Administered Tribal Areas.
Two days after Hajizai’s death, the Baluch Liberation Front,
an armed separatist group, claimed responsibility for his killing and called
him a government informer. The journalist’s colleagues said they were unaware
of any threats made against him.
The Baluchistan Union of Journalists issued a statement
protesting the killing and appealed to the Supreme Court and the Baluchistan
High Court to address the rising level of threats to journalists.