Khairpur journalist gunned down by assailants laid to rest

SUKKUR: Senior journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar, who was shot dead by unknown armed motorcyclists in Sukkur on Sunday, was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard near Chak in Shikarpur district on Monday.

Journalists from all across Sindh province participated in the funeral prayers of the slain journalist held in his native village Chakk. Later, the journalist was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard.

The 50-year-old senior journalist, Jan Muhammad Mahar, known for his fearless reporting, was associated with a prominent Sindhi newspaper and its affiliated television channel.

He was heading home situated near Local Board Sukkur from his office at Bandar road in a car around 9:20pm on Sunday, when two armed motorcyclists confronted him at Lucas Park Sukkur and opened fire on him.

Locals immediately rushed him to a Sukkur hospital, where he passed away. Jan Mohammad Mahar was known and respected for his bold reporting. The news of his death sent shockwaves among the journalist community and local people who expressed indignation over the cold blooded murder of the journalist. They complained that the Sindh government completely failed to provide security to the journalists.

The journalists and members of the civil society staged the demonstrations in various towns of the province to register their protest against the brutal murder of yet another journalist in the Sukkur region.

They demanded the judicial probe into the killing of Jan Muhammad. Till the filling of this report, FIR of the murder of the senior journalist was not registered.

Respectively, the Journalists Protection Commission has also sought a report from the Sindh IG regarding the killing of journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar. An emergency meeting of the Commission’s Executive Committee was held which was presided over by Commission Chairman Justice Rashid A. Rizvi. The representatives from KUJ, HRCP and CPNE also participated in the meeting. The commission called upon the Sindh IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon to arrest the killers.

The meeting was summoned on the request of Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) over the tragic killing of senior journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar.