Sheikh, a stringer for Sindh TV and local bureau chief for
the national Urdu-language daily Khabrein, was killed by unidentified gunmen as
he left his home by motorbike in the town of Hub, about 25 miles (40
kilometers) north of Karachi, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of
Journalists and the official Associated Press of Pakistan.
Mazhar Abbas, then the secretary-general of the journalists
union, told CPJ he had spoken by telephone with Sheikh’s brother, Ishaq, who
was riding on the same motorbike at the time of the attack and had been
hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Ishaq said three men on motorbikes carried
out the shooting, then checked to make sure the journalist was dead before
fleeing, according to Abbas. The brother said he was unaware of any dispute
that might have led to the murder, Abbas said.