Female journalist was mysteriously killed in Turbat area of Kech on Saturday.
According to details, Shaheena Shaheen Baloch, a female journalist, artist and social activist was mysteriously gunned down in Turbat city. She was the host of a morning show on PTV Bolan, Chief-in-editor of the Baloch magazine ‘Dasgohar’ and an artist. She believed in gender equality and had also campaigned for women rights in Balochistan
The victim was shifted to the Civil Hospital Turbat, where she succumbed to her injuries, Police said. As per the hospital sources, she suffered two bullet wounds.
Several journalists, social activists and social media users are expressing sympathy and condemning the incident.
Balochistan is considered to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists; the abduction and targeted killings of journalists are not uncommon in the region.
Reporters Without Borders, in its 2020 Press Freedom Index, ranked Pakistan 145 out of 180 countries. The Paris-based organization alleges that the Pakistani state and its mighty military establishment “cannot stand independent journalism.”
A day earlier, on Friday, another former journalist and top official of Pakistan’s financial regulatory agency, Sajid Gondal went missing from Islamabad.
Gondal’s disappearance actuated a heated debate on social media. Some considered it an incident of ‘enforced disappearance’, others implied that his ‘suspicious’ disappearance might be linked to his unconfirmed ties with Ahmed Noorani, the investigative journalist who exposed the details the assets of the CPEC chief, General Asim Saleem Bajwa, engendering a widespread public outcry against him and forcing him to step down as the special assistant to the prime minister of Pakistan. Many surmise that Gondal might have been the whistleblower who disclosed the details of Bajwa’s overseas assets to Noorani, and, therefore, might have been abducted by the Pakistani security forces or the intelligence agencies.
Numbers of journalists have been killed and abducted in Pakistan allegedly for their critical stance on Pakistan’s military establishment and reporting on the human rights abuses throughout the country.
Baloch nationalist groups also blame Pakistan army for abduction and killing of journalists including other political activists. Army has been denying the allegations of involvement in these incidents.