The reporter received threats for filming the birds' video, which is banned from hunting in Pakistan.
Guwahati: An amateur video reporter based near Karachi, the capital city of Sindh province in western Pakistan, was murdered on 3 November for filming and uploading the videos about the illegal hunting of some precious birds. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for an independent investigation into the killing of Nazim Jokhiyo to bring the culprits to justice.
Nazim was threatened for some time as he uploaded many video footages, which are not comfortable for various government departments. Just after filming the bird’s video, Nazim received threats which he ignored. Later, his body with marks of torture was found at Malir locality.
Nazim made the video to draw attention to the hunting of the Asian houbara bustard, a threatened species, informed Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, adding that hunting this bird is banned in Pakistan. Hence, he went to cover the arrival of several foreign guests at Jangshahi locality who are indulged in crime. Nazim was reportedly invited by a local politician, a member of the Sindh legislative assembly, to discuss the matter. Accordingly, he went there on 2 November, and his body was recovered the next day.
“The brutality with which Nazim Jokhiyo was eliminated is all the more shocking because his murder was premeditated by a parliamentarian who is well known in the region,” commented Daniel while talking to this scribe from Paris. He also called on Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah to order an independent investigation to identify the perpetrators involved with Nazim’s murder.
Mentionable is that the politician is associated with the Pakistan People’s Party, which is ruling the Sindh province. Lately, the local police informed that they had arrested two persons on suspicion of having beaten Nazim to death.
RSF questioned Sindh’s information minister Hussain Shah about the incident, but he limited himself to saying the government had taken notice of the matter. Nazim’s murder coincided tragically with the UN-recognised International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on 2 November every year.
According to the Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), Pakistan earlier witnessed the murder of five journalists this year. It lost Ajay Laalwani, Waseem Alam, Abdul Wahid Raisani, Kashif Hussain and Shahid Zehri to assailants. Shockingly, most of the cases related to the murder of journalists in Pakistan have not been resolved, meaning the culprits are yet to be identified (not to speak of punishing under the law).
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