Pakistan: Female PTV journalist shot dead in Balochistan

Police in southwest Pakistan have launched a hunt for the killer of a female journalist who was shot at her home, an official said, with her husband being one of the suspects.

“We have registered a case and started a search for the killer of the female journalist,” Siraj Ahmad, investigating officer on the case from Turbat district of Balochistan, said on Sunday.

Shaheena Shaheen, a talk show host at state-owned broadcaster Pakistan Television and editor of a local magazine, was shot dead at her home in Turbat on Saturday evening.

Ahmad said Shaheen’s family suspected her husband of the murder. Shaheen had a court marriage about six months ago and was living with her husband, according to the police.

Mohsin said Shaheen was dropped off at a hospital in critical condition by two men who then left as doctors tried to save her life.

Police later learned that one of those men was the woman’s husband, Nawabzada Mahrab.

They said raids were being carried out to find and arrest the husband after being alerted by the woman’s uncle of his involvement.

Pakistan is considered to be one of the most dangerous countries for journalists.

Rights group Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan 145th out of 180 countries in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Since 1992, at least 61 Pakistani journalists have been killed in connection with their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In November, another man was accused of killing his journalist wife, Arooj Iqbal, in the eastern city of Lahore.

Pakistan fares badly on global gender indices. In 2019, it ranked 164 out of 167 countries on the Women, Peace and Security Index, only above Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *