LAHORE, June 11: The South Asian Media Commission (SAMC) has raised an alarm at death threats to Farida Nekzad, vice-president of South Asia Media Commission and a senior Afghan journalist, only days after the killing of two women media-persons.

“This is very disturbing that after the killing of two Afghan women journalists in the past two weeks, some unknown people are sending out death threats through phone calls and emails to another Afghan woman journalist,” N Ram, the chairperson of the commission, and Najam Sethi, the secretary general, and South Asian Free Media Association’s secretary general Imtiaz Alam said in a statement.

The Afghan government should find out and arrest these people as soon as possible, ensuring journalists security and safety, said the statement released by the commission’s regional coordinator Husain Naqi.

Zakia Zaki, owner and manager of private Peace Radio in a town 60 kilometres north of the capital Kabul, was killed in her home last week by unidentified people. Zaki, in her late 30s, was critical of warlords.

On May 31, popular 22-year-old television presenter Shakiba Sanga Amaj, was also shot dead in her home.

“Attacks and threats on journalists will undermine advances in media freedom here since the 2001 removal of the Taliban,” the statement said.

The South Asia Media Commission, a new media watchdog formed in April this year to monitor journalists’ safety and violation of media rights, is envisaged to promptly respond to such violations to press for remedial action.