QUETTA: Unknown armed men killed a journalist here on Saturday night.

Police said that 23-year-old Abdul Wahid Raisani, reporter and sub-editor of Urdu newspaper Daily Azadi, was on his way to office from home on his motorcycle. When he reached near Bank Colony on Qambrani Road unknown armed men intercepted him and opened fire on him, leaving him seriously injured. The armed men escaped from the scene after the firing. The journalist succumbed to his injuries while being taken to Civil Hospital.

The elder brother of the deceased, Shoaib Raisani, who is also a journalist working for Century Express, said: “We have no enmity with anyone.”

However, police said it appeared that the armed men wanted to snatch the motorcycle and on resistance opened fire and took away the bike after injuring the journalist.

A senior police officer said an investigation into the incident was in progress and soon the assailants would be arrested. “All efforts would be made to bring the attackers to justice,” he added.

The young journalist was buried in Railway graveyard on Sunday in the presence of a large number of people, including relatives, friends and journalists.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) strongly condemned the murder of Wahid Raisani and expressed grief and sorrow over the tragic incident. It expressed sympathy with the grieved family and solidarity with the journalist community of Quetta.

PFUJ president Shahzada Zulfiqar and secretary general Nasir Zaidi demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. “Government should set up a judicial commission comprising judges of the Balochistan High Court to look into the reasons behind the killing of the young journalist and steps should be taken to arrest the murderers without any delay,” they said in a statement issued on Sunday.

They expressed serious concern over the government’s non-serious attitude and said that just ordering an inquiry into such cases was not enough. The government should take concrete steps to arrest the culprits and expose the elements behind such incidents, they added.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2021