Sangi, a cameraman for the Sindhi-language channel, was shot
while covering a gunfight between members of the Unar and Abro tribes in the town
of Larkana, in southeast Pakistan’s Sindh district, according to local media
reports. At least one other person was killed in the clash, which Sangi
recorded before he died. The station broadcast his video.
Police said Sangi was killed in crossfire, although some
colleagues believe he might have been deliberately targeted for the station’s
reporting on a jirga, or tribal council, held by leaders of the Unar tribe,
according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. An uncle and colleague
of Sangi had recently been attacked in connection with the station’s reports
that two children had been punished by the tribal court, the journalist union
said.
Mazhar Abbas, then the secretary-general of the journalist
union, said Sangi’s body was not recovered for several hours after he was shot.
Journalists in Larkana staged a sit-in to protest the killing of their
colleague.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said
Sangi had received threats in connection with his coverage of alleged abuses by
Altaf Hussain Unar, a provincial minister. The Sindh Home Department said that
four people were arrested after Sangi’s death and that three police officials
were suspended. Unar was arrested in a separate case in 2008, but was not
charged in relation to the killing of Sangi.
Despite the initial arrests, the suspects were never brought
to trial, according to Hadi Sangi, brother of the slain journalist, and court
documents reviewed by CPJ. Hadi Sangi also said that he and his brother’s
widow, Reshman Sangi, had received repeated threats.