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Pakistan journalist survives shooting

High-profile victim's family blames national intelligence agency
Pakistan journalist survives shooting

Pakistani journalists protest in Karachi against the shooting of TV anchor Hamid Mir at the weekend.

Published: April 21, 2014 03:46 AM GMT
Updated: April 20, 2014 05:54 PM GMT

A high-profile Pakistani TV news anchor was shot and wounded on April 19. His family has blamed the attack on the country's powerful intelligence agency.

Hamid Mir, who hosts a long-running TV talk show, Capital Talk, was shot multiple times as he left Karachi's Jinnah International Airport for his station's head office.

Karachi police chief Shahid Hayat said that gunmen riding in a car and on two motorcycles opened fire on Mir's car, hitting the victim in the stomach and shoulders.

The driver sped to a nearby hospital, where Mir underwent surgery.

A spokesman at the Agha Khan Hospital said Mir was out of danger after three bullets were removed from his body.

No group claimed responsibility for the assassination bid. But Amir Mir, brother of the targeted anchor and a noted journalist himself, blamed Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, for the attack.

"Hamid Mir told family, friends and his channel that [intelligence] chief Gen Zaheerul Islam was to be blamed if he was targeted," Mir told GEO News.

He said his brother was attacked for his stance on Pervez Musharraf's trial, forced disappearances in Balochistan and the army's political role.

Hamid Mir also sent a video message to New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) about threats to his life from the intelligence agency and its chief, his brother said.

The army's public relations department called the allegations against the intelligence agency "highly regrettable and misleading".

The government said it has convened a three-member judicial commission to probe the murder attempt. It also announced a reward of US$100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the culprits.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it is alarmed by the continuing violence directed at journalists in Pakistan.

“The attack on Hamid Mir is an indicator that the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has not been able to reverse the country's appalling record of violence against journalists, despite pledges to do so," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

"Full prosecution of the perpetrators of such crimes is the only answer to reversing this history," the statement said.

On March 28, gunmen sprayed the car of TV anchor and analyst Raza Rumi, a member of the Express Group of media organizations. He escaped serious injury but his driver was killed.

This was the second attempt on Mir's life. In November 2012, he escaped an assassination bid when police defused a bomb planted under his car in Islamabad. Mir had been criticized by the Taliban for his support for teenage activist Malala Yousafzai.

Meanwhile, protests were staged across Pakistan by journalist bodies and rights activists.

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