KHAIRPUR: Reporters without Borders on Tuesday voiced revulsion at the murder of Noor Ahmed Solangi, correspondent for the Sindhi-language newspaper, Khabroon, in Kingri.
Ahmed Solangi, 34, died in a hail of nine bullets after he was ambushed by six people on motorbikes and armed with Kalashnikovs, who shot him at point blank range as he was distributing newspapers on 17 June.
"We are shocked by the murder of Noor Ahmed Solangi, less than three weeks after the killing of Noor Hakim, in the tribal areas on June 2," the worldwide press freedom organization said.
"The deteriorating working conditions and the insecurity facing journalists in the rural areas of the country are extremely worrying. It is crucial both that the local authorities find and punish the killers of Noor Ahmed Solangi and that the Pakistani authorities put an end to this lawlessness", the organization said.
Sindh's rural areas are currently the scene of serious conflict between rival clans.
A friend of the reporter, Khan Muhammad, told Borders, "Solangi received death threats two days earlier, from the Junejo tribe, which was unhappy about his reports".
The journalist had written an article contesting allegations by Junejo members that a rival clan had killed some of its members in a recent clash. The journalist asserted that they had been killed by police officers.
The family of the murdered journalist has begun legal proceedings against members of the Junejo clan: Hadu Junejo, Makal, Nazir, Ghulam Haiser, Siddiq and Nural.
A reporter, Abdul Khaliq, dismissed a theory that Noor Ahmed Solangi had been killed for ethnic reasons. "He was killed because of his profession," the journalist said.
