Pakistan: TV host shot dead

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Gunmen shot dead a local TV journalist in southern port city of Karachi in a latest attack on journalists in Pakistan, police and health officials said.

Mureed Abbas who hosted a political talk show at a local broadcaster, BOL News, was targeted together with his friend in Defense Housing Authority, a high-end locality of the country's commercial capital.

Dr Seemi Jamali, director of Jinnah Hospital, told reporters that Abbas received two bullets in his chest and abdomen, which proved fatal.

Police in an initial report linked the killing with a personal monetary dispute. However, the Chief Editor BOL News, Nazir Leghari, said there could be some other motives behind the incident, which must be unearthed.

" We cannot trust the police version straight away", he added.

The incident followed days after the international journalists associations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed in their respective reports concern over growing threats and physical violence against journalists in Pakistan, which ranks 106 in the World Press Freedom index.

The state-run media watchdog took off air several TV channels earlier this week for airing live speech of Maryam Nawaz, a key opposition leader and daughter of jailed ex Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Also, several TV anchors who are critical of the government's performance complain of threats from political activists and security agencies.

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists with over 100 killed since 2000, many of them in southwestern Balochistan where separatist rebels have complained about media coverage of the conflict.