Journalist shot dead in Nowshera

NOWSHERA: Unidentified armed motorcyclists shot dead a journalist in broad daylight in Akbarpura Bazaar in Nowshera district on Sunday.

District Police Officer Azhar Khan said that Malik Hassan Zeb, the reporter with Daily Aaj, along with his brother Anwar Zeb was coming in his car LOR-7869 to the family general store in Akbarpura Bazaar.

He said that as they reached their shop in Akbarpura Bazaar, unidentified masked bike riders opened indiscriminate fire on Malik Hassan Zeb.

He sustained multiple bullet injuries and died on the spot.

The police registered the case against unidentified assailants on the report of Anwar Zeb, the brother of the slain journalist.

He said the accused fled the scene after committing the crime.

Soon after the incident, the police rushed to the spot and shifted the body to Mian Rashid Hussain Shaheed Hospital, Pabbi, for medico-legal formalities.

The DPO said that a special team headed by Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Alamzeb Khan and Deputy Superintendent of Police, Pabbi, Jawad Khan had been constituted to probe the case from various angles.

Journalists’ organisations condemned the killing of Malik Hassan Zeb and urged the police high-ups to arrest the accused as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the members of the Nowshera Press Club condemned the killing and asked Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan to help arrest the accused as soon as possible.

The Tribal Union of Journalists also condemned the brutal murder of Hasan Zeb. Tribal Union of Journalists President Qazi Fazlullah and General Secretary Khadim Khan Afridi said that government and law enforcement agencies had failed to protect journalists.