Journalists Muhammad Bachal Ghunio and Nisar Lehri killed amid rising violence against press in Pakistan
New York, September 13, 2024—Pakistani authorities must immediately investigate the killings of Awaz TV reporter Muhammad Bachal Ghunio and International News Agency reporter Nisar Lehri and ensure an end to the intensifying wave of violence against journalists in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
“Pakistani authorities must immediately bring the perpetrators of the killings of journalists Nisar Lehri and Muhammad Bachal Ghunio to justice and show urgent political will to end the horrifying cycle of violence against journalists that has continued this year across Pakistan,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The press in Pakistan cannot carry out their journalism unless the government and security agencies put an end to the impunity against journalists in the country.”
On August 27, Ghunio was killed by unidentified armed men while in a field near his home in the Raunti area of Ghotki District in the southeastern Sindh province, according to the Pakistan Press Foundation, a local press freedom group. Ghunio’s brother and the investigating officer believe that he was killed for his reporting and journalism. Police have since arrested a suspect and recovered a weapon they believe was used in the killing.
On September 4, Lehri, who is also secretary of the Mastung Press Club, was attacked by three unknown assailants near his home in the Gulkand area of Mastung District in Baluchistan province, according to CPJ’s review of a copy of the first information report (FIR), a document that opens an investigation. According to the FIR, Lehri was killed because of his reporting against local criminal elements, but the police’s initial investigation suggests that he was killed due to a land dispute, according to the Pakistan Press Foundation.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment, sent via text message.
Seven other journalists have been killed across Pakistan in 2024, and dozens have been attacked or forced into hiding due to their reporting across the country.