Pakistan: 27-yr-old journalist shot dead by husband for not quitting job

A Pakistani journalist was killed in Lahore, on November 25, allegedly by her scribe husband for not quitting her job. The 27-year-old Urooj Iqbal, associated with an Urdu daily, was recently married to Dilawar Ali. Urooj, a crime reporter, was shot dead by Dilawar when she was entering her office in Qila Gujjar Singh in central Lahore, said Dost Mohammad, a senior police officer. She was taken to the hospital but it was already too late.

On the complaint of Urooj’s brother Yasir Iqbal, an FIR has been registered against Dilawar, who works in another Urdu daily. According to the FIR, Urooj and Dilawar had a love marriage but various domestic issues turned their relationship sour and Dilawar started demanding Urooj to leave her job. After their relation deteriorated, Urooj started living in a room adjacent to her office.

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Yasir lamented the fact that a complaint was lodged recently over domestic abuse but police took no action against it. The investigation is currently underway and the CCTV footage has been sent for forensic analysis. The murder case seems prima facie a case of domestic violence but it added to the rising number of deaths of journalists in Pakistan.

Rise in deaths

A report released by the Freedom Network revealed that at least 33 journalists have been killed in Pakistan in the last six years while being on duty. The report was backed by other organisations including the Pakistan Press Foundation, which said that 48 journalists lost their lives from 2002 to 2019. Pakistan is currently placed at 142nd position in the world press freedom index, released by the ‘Reporters without borders’.

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Manzoor Ahmed, writing for the Pakistan Christian Post, highlighted the condition of journalists and journalism in Pakistan while quoting the figures.

“These figures in it project the fact that the security and safety of journalists in Pakistan is a critical issue, and the high number of causalities also suggests that perpetrators of the crimes often go unpunished, giving them thumping moral to take another victim in hand,” wrote Ahmed.

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(With Inputs from Agencies)