Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Rodrigo Duterte, President of Philippines has expressed deep concern over the murder of a radio announcer, Gabriel Alburo in the town of La Libertad, Negros Oriental on December 28.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali has condemned the murder of Gabriel Alburo and called on the authorities to immediately and independently investigate the killing of radio announcer and hold those responsible for his murder.

According to Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), at around 3:05 a.m. Alburo was heading home to Guihulngan, city in Negros on his motorbike when he was shot by two armed motorcyclists on the national highway in Barangay North Poblacion.

After Edmund Sestoso who was murdered in Dumaguete on April 30, Alburo became the second media practitioner killed in Negros Oriental this year.

Alburo had recently continued broadcasting over 94.5 DYJL FM, a community radio station in Guihulngan.

The motive behind the murder of Alburo is not clear yet.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court issued on Monday non-bailable warrants of arrest for two suspects said to be affiliated with a banned sectarian outfit, allegedly involved in the murder of a journalist.

The ATC-II issued warrants for Adeel Raza Zaidi and Salman Raza as police submitted the charge sheet of the case. Another suspect, Zeeshan Haider Zaidi, is in custody in connection with the killing.

Zeeshan’s arrest was revealed by the counter terrorism department in September, two weeks after journalist Aftab Alam was gunned down outside his house in North Karachi. The prosecution maintains that the suspects belonged to the defunct Shia militant group Sipah-i-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP).

The arrested suspect has confessed in police custody that he, in collusion with his absconding accomplices, killed Alam, the investigators claim.

Zeeshan, who is an employee of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, is said to be the leader of a target killing team of the SMP and is accused of killing at least five people on sectarian grounds in the city this year.

The court has ordered the police to arrest the absconding suspects and present them on next hearing of the case on January 15, 2016.

Express Tribune

KHAR: Media persons in Bajaur on Wednesday organised a protest demonstration against the murder of their colleague, Mohammad Zaman Mehsud, in Tank district, and demand arrest of his killers.

The protest was staged outside the press club here where members of civil society and workers of political parties were also present.

The journalists expressed concern over the growing incidents of attacks on media persons and demanded of the government to provide them with protection.

They criticised the government for not arresting the culprits involved in killing of media personnel in the tribal areas. They asked for payment of compensation to the bereaved family of Zaman Mehsud.

Dawn

Police have arrested four suspects including the alleged mastermind behind killing of journalist Aftab Alam who was murdered on 9 September outside his residence in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan.

Three of the suspects were arrested on September 14 while the alleged mastermind was arrested on September 11. According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Alam was not murdered because of his profession; rather the motive for the murder was sectarian animosities.

According to DIG the suspects belonged to anti-Shiite school of thought and they wanted to fuel sectarian violence by targeting members of Shiite sect, ahead of the holy month of Muharram, when emotions and tensions run high.

Police also said mobile phones and arms were recovered from the possession of the arrested suspects and they had been trained abroad. Police has not yet disclosed names of the arrested suspects.

Alam was fatally shot in his head on September 9, by unknown armed men who fled from the scene after shooting him. Alam had previously worked for Geo News and Samaa News television channels but had not been working for over a year because of health reasons.

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Journalists on Thursday warned the federal and Sindh governments against their inaction and warned that a time may come when they are compelled to approach Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif for arrest of the killers of the media persons.

The participants of the protest rally organised here by Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) and National Press Club (NPC), chanted slogans against the apathy of both the federal and Sindh governments and demanded early arrest of the murderers of Satellite Engineer of Geo News Arshad Ali Jafri and senior journalist Aftab Alam.

RIUJ president Ali Raza Alvi said that an important meeting of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) would be held in next couple of days after which the journalists would announce their future course of action against murder of media persons.

“I want to ask where are they who have been making tall claims about peace in Karachi. Two media persons have been killed but the federal and Sindh governments have not bothered to take any effective action,” he said.

He said they would suggest in the meeting with PFUJ to stage a sit-in against the federal and Sindh governments because they have failed to implement National Action Plan (NAP) that was devised to root out the elements who want instability and lawlessness in the country.

Ali Raza Alvi said that the government had formed commission to probe into the attack on senior journalist Hamid Mir but now it never wants to make its report public, adding “We warn the government against its apathy for the last time, because now journalists are determined that they would leave no stone unturned to get justice.”

RIUJ general secretary Bilal Dar said they have been making requests to the government to arrest the killers of the media persons but it seems that the journalists would be compelled to approach Army Chief General Raheel Sharif to get justice.

“If the government cannot provide justice to the people including journalists then it has no right to rule the country. If the interior minister takes credit for peace in Karachi then he should also show responsibility regarding serial killing of the media persons,” he said.

He said an Islamabad-based journalist Umair Abbasi was also killed last week but still the police have failed to trace his murderers, adding, “It seems that there is no law in the country and the murderers are roaming on the streets with full impunity.”

NPC finance secretary Waqar Satti said, “Had the government implemented National Action Plan, it would have been able to root out terrorism and lawlessness from the country but unfortunately that did not happen and the people are facing its consequences.”

Senior journalists Nasir Hashmi and Abid Abbasi also spoke on the occasion and demanded of the government to arrest the killers of Arshad Ali Jafri and Aftab Alam at the earliest.

The News