Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle killed Abid in a barber
shop in Panjgur district, about 375 miles (600 kilometers) from Quetta. Abid
had worked as a general assignment reporter for the Urdu-language Dunya News, a
news and current affairs TV channel, for several years and had also worked for
the Urdu-language daily Intikhaab.
According to the Pakistan Press Foundation, Abid was shot
six times, once in the head. The PPF also reported that Eesa Tareen, president
of the Baluchistan Union of Journalists, said Abid’s family was unaware of any
personal enmities that would have caused his death.
Aslam Raisani, chief minister of Baluchistan, issued a
statement saying that “hidden hands” were attacking Baluchi journalists to stop
them from working, according to news reports. Abid’s colleagues at the PPF said
that they believed Abid had been killed because of his reporting. The
Baluchistan Union of Journalists appealed to the local and federal governments
to address the rising levels of threats to Pakistani journalists.