Journalists in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan are demanding justice and accountability two days after unidentified gunmen shot dead a reporter in the provincial capital.
The Balochistan Union of Journalists protested outside the provincial legislature in Quetta on April 26 and boycotted providing media coverage of the assembly's proceedings.
The provincial media body is calling on the government to arrest what they claim were militants involved in the murder of Abdul Wahid Raisani, a reporter with the local Urdu-language Azadi newspaper.
Raisani was attacked while returning home in Quetta on the evening of April 24, police said. It was not immediately clear who attacked the journalist. Police said an investigation was under way and the murder may have occurred when robbers attempted to steal Raisani’s motorbike.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists joined in condemning the murder and demanded security for all media workers across the country.
Quetta is the capital of resource-rich Balochistan Province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The region has been plagued by sectarian violence, attacks by Islamist militants, and a separatist insurgency that has caused thousands of casualties since 2004.
