Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar was shot and killed in Karachi this evening, shortly after covering gang violence in the city, according to several Pakistani journalists. At least two assailants intercepted Babar’s car at 9:20 p.m., shooting him multiple times in the head and neck, Geo TV Managing Director Azhar Abbas told CPJ. One assailant spoke to Babar briefly before opening fire, Abbas said.
Voice of America journalist Fazal Aziz, speaking to CPJ from Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Babar’s body had been taken, said doctors told him the journalist had been shot five times.
“Wali Khan Babar’s death is the latest in a string of targeted attacks on journalists in Pakistan. The government has not addressed the problem in any meaningful way,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Pakistan has rapidly emerged as an area of extreme risk for reporters. They are targeted from all sides in the country’s disintegrating security situation.”
Babar was driving home after filing a report about gangland clashes in eastern Karachi. He had been covering a police search that ensued after a shooting in the area earlier in the day, his colleagues say.
Pakistan was the deadliest country in the world in 2010, according to CPJ data. The country also ranked 10th on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are regularly slain and authorities fail to solve the crimes.
KARACHI: Police on Friday lodged an FIR into the murder of Wali Khan Babar, reporter of Geo News, who was gunned down in a targeted attack last night in Liaquatabad.
The FIR No. 08/2011 was registered on the complaint of deceased brother Muhammat Khan Babar at Super Market Police Station.
Babar, 29, was the first reporter to die in the line of duty in Pakistan in 2011.
Investigation officer Khatim Khan Marwat told Geo News that police have found five cases of spent 9mm bullets, adding that fingerprints have also been taken from the vehicle. He added that further investigation is underway.
