Dunya News TV, Intikhaab
November 18, 2012, in Panjgur, Baluchistan, Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle killed Abid in a barber shop in Panjgur District, about 375 miles (600 kilometers) from Quetta, the capital of the strife-torn province of Baluchistan. Abid had worked as a general news reporter for the Urdu-language Dunya News, a news and current affairs TV channel, for several years and had also worked for the Urdu-language daily Intikhaab.

According to the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a local media support group, Abid was shot once in the head and five times in other parts of his body. The PPF also reported that Eesa Tareen, president of the Balochistan Union of Journalists, said Abid's family was unaware of any personal enmities that would have caused his death.

Aslam Raisani, chief minister of Baluchistan, issued a statement saying that "hidden hands" were involved in attacking and killing Baluchi journalists to stop them from working and to create unrest in the province, according to news reports.

Abid's colleagues at the PPF said that they believed Abid had been killed because of his reporting. It is difficult to determine the motives for attacks on journalists in Baluchistan, as there is little to no public security or investigation into crimes.

Baluchistan, Pakistan's poorest region, is a scene of protracted violence, where clan and ethnic animosities are aggravated by the area's extreme poverty. The Baluchistan Union of Journalists has appealed to the local and federal governments to address the rising levels of threats to Pakistani journalists.

Medium:Print, Television
Job:Broadcast Reporter, Camera Operator, Print Reporter
Beats Covered:Business, Corruption, Crime, Human Rights, Politics, War
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Type of Death:Murder
Suspected Source of Fire:Unknown Fire
Impunity:Yes
Taken Captive:No
Tortured:No
Threatened:No

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