Veteran Pakistani journalist Raja Assad Hameed was murdered in the northeastern city of Rawalpindi last Thursday night.
Hameed, who worked for local broadcaster Waqt TV and the English-language daily the Nation, and appeared regularly on Al-Jazeera broadcasts, was shot several times at close range outside his home at around 10 p.m., according to local and international news reports. The reports said a small group of armed men killed Hameed with a volley of gunshots when he opened his front door to answer the doorbell.
Police said they have no clear motive for the killing, and were not sure if it was related to Hameed's work as a journalist. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) also said there is no clear explanation of why Hameed was attacked.
"The aura of impunity surrounding the killings of journalists that arose during the Musharraf government continues to be a harsh reality in Pakistan." said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia programme coordinator. "The Zardari government must act swiftly to investigate Hameed's death and begin to unravel the years of unexplained deaths of journalists."
“We offer our condolences to Hameed’s family, friends and colleagues and we urge the government to assume its responsibility to take effective measures to protect press freedom and journalists in Pakistan,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
“Hameed’s murder comes just a month after the murder of journalist Mosa Khankhel, in which the police investigation has yet to yield any results,” RSF added. “This casts serious doubt on the commitment of Pakistan’s authorities to ensuring that journalists are safe.”
“The Government of Pakistan must act on its stated commitment to defend media rights, including the right of media personnel to be protected against targeted violence,” International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said. “Offering to provide compensation after violence has been committed is an insufficient response in dealing with the level of violence directed against the media in various parts of Pakistan.”
The Nation editor Mahmood Hamdani told RSF that he and the entire staff were stunned by Hameed’s death. “It feels as though we have lost a brother. It is clear that no one is safe here.”
While government officials were quick to denounce the killing and promised a full investigation, not since in the murder case of American Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 has another journalist's killer has ever been brought to trial in Pakistan.
On Friday, Federal Information Minister Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira told the official Associated Press of Pakistan that the "government is fully determined to investigate thoroughly into [Hameed's] murder . . . and the perpetrators will be brought to justice at all costs."
But PFUJ was sceptical about the government's commitment to protecting journalists. "Failure of the authorities to even probe the murders of journalists has created serious doubts about the sincerity of the government in protecting the journalists and has increased fear among the community," it said when it announced Hameed's death.
Members of PFUJ held a rally this weekend to protest continuing violence against journalists and to appeal again to the authorities to take serious action.
