SUKKUR: A double bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana, on Thursday, accepting the appeal of convicted accused in journalist Wali Babar case, quashed the sentence passed by the ATC Court, Kandhkot.

Reports said that on Thursday, Justice Muhammed Kareem Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi of Sindh High Court Bench, Larkana, had quashed capital punishment of two accused, Faisal Mota and Kamran alias Zeeshan, and life imprisonment of Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shahrukh alias Manni after scrutinising their appeal. The accused were MQM activists.

In 2011, the special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Kandhkot, had handed down death sentences to two absconders and life imprisonment to four others found guilty of murdering TV reporter Wali Babar. The court had convicted two absconding accused, Faisal Mehmood and Kamran, giving death sentences in absentia. Four co-accused, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi and Shahrukh alias Manni, were handed down life terms.

Newspaper: The News

ISLAMABAD: Twenty-eight journalists were killed and 23 injured while performing their professional duties in 2015 in Pakistan. Fifty-one cases were lodged and only three killers have been held so far.

The Journalist Protect Committee, in its annual report, said that six journalists were killed in Karachi, five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Fata, four in Balochistan while remaining journalists were killed in various parts of Pakistan in different incidents.

Forty percent killers, who murdered journalists, belonged to banned religious organisations, 20 percent to capitalists, and five percent belonged to political parties while 35 percent attacked media men during rendering their services.

The federation and provincial administration have just been giving good news to announce and form policies for the protection of journalists but did nothing practically.Only Rangers have captured murders of two journalists in Karachi.

The News

One of them later succumbed to his injuries. The other being treated at the district headquarters hospital, was said to be in critical condition.
No one has been arrested.

Police said Ahmed Ali Joiya, 25, had been working as a reporter for several local newspapers and magazines.

They said he had been working on a crime story and had been coordinating with the police in this regard.

They said his investigation had helped the police. Police said Joiya had reported receiving death threats from Maqbool alias Kooli Sassi, a wanted criminal, for reporting on the latter’s gang. Police said they had asked Joiya to be careful and inform them of any meetings with strangers.

They said on Friday, when Joiya went to a market in Bhangrana village, some unidentified men shot him, killing him on the spot.

Two street vendors- later identified as Muhammad Munir and Muhammad Hanif- were also hit. Hanif succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital, while Munir was reported to be in critical condition.

A complaint was registered with the Takht Mehal police.

Police said they suspected Maqbool to have killed Joiya. They said Maqbool was wanted in more than 150 murder, robbery and kidnappings across Punjab.

Punjab Police has set a Rs1 million head money on Maqbool.

Bahawalnagar District Police Officer Muntazir Mehdi said that initial investigation revealed that Maqbool was believed to be hiding in Sindh. He said a police team had been formed to arrest him and his accomplices.

Sajjad Wattoo, a colleague of the deceased Ahmed Ali JJoiya, told The Express Tribune that Joiya had mentioned the death threats to his colleagues.

Colleagues and some relatives of the slain journalist protested the murder. They demand that the criminals be arrested at the earliest.

They said the district police had provided him guards last year, but were taken away when the caretaker government took charge.

Joiya had been writing about crime and narcotics control, particularly smuggling from India. His stories had helped the police in several cases and had been awarded a prize by the regional police in 2012. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Source: The Express Tribune

According to press reports, journalists were covering a political rally of Awami National Party (ANP) in a campaign for upcoming elections in a densely packed neighborhood in Peshawar when a suicide bomber blew him killing at least 20 people including a journalist and injured dozens including two journalists,.

Aslam, left behind four children and a widow. He was the only bread winner of his family.

Shah received head injuries while Khan has many wounds in his legs and chest. They are being treating in a local hospital.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan said their target was Haroon Bilour, a lawyer who is running for a seat in Peshawar and nephew of another ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, who was also injured in the blast.

Pakistan Press Foundation

QUETTA: A local journalist and two other people were shot dead in Bolan district late on Thursday night.

Levies sources said a group of armed men intercepted a bus coming from Quetta on its way to Punjab on Quetta-Sukkur highway in the Machh area of Bolan district and kidnapped six passengers. The sources said that three of them were later gunned down when they tried to escape.

“The armed men took the three other passengers with them,” Levies Tehsildar for Mach Mir Zubair Kurd said. A truck driver passing through the area got injured when the armed men opened fire on the three passengers, he added.

The Levies force took the bodies and the injured driver to civil hospital in Machh. The Levies sources said that one of the deceased was identified as Jamshed Kharal, who had been working for a newspaper in Quetta, and others as Mohammad Kashif and Mohammad Siddique.

The names of the three passengers who were taken away could not be ascertained. The bus was going to Sadiqabad.

Pakistan Press Foundation