A 31-year-old Hindu journalist in Pakistan was shot dead by unidentified assailants while getting a haircut at a barbershop in the country’s Sindh province.
Ajay Lalvani, a reporter with the local ‘Royal News’ television station and an Urdu language newspaper ‘Daily Puchano’, died on Thursday after he sustained bullet injuries in the stomach, arm, and knee, the News International reported.
The incident took place in the Saleh Pat area of the city of Sukkur.
He was sitting at a barbershop when assailants on two bikes and a car drove by and opened fire. Lalvani was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died.
Meanwhile, Lal Chand Malhi, a Hindu member of Pakistan’s National Assembly (MNA), condemned the killing on Twitter.
“Strongly condemn the killing of yet another journalist Ajay Kumar at Saleh Pat, Sindh. It is a matter of great concern that media persons are increasingly feeling unsafe in Sindh. Offered condolence to the heirs of the victim. Police should (go) beyond forming committees,” he wrote.
A group of journalists, holding the police responsible for the incident, protested against Lalvani’s killing and carried out a march, claiming that it was a targetted killing.
The police have registered an FIR and launched an investigation to find the motive of the crime.
Meanwhile, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American independent non-profit organisation, urged authorities in Sindh province to “immediately launch a credible investigation” and apprehend those responsible for the killing.
