KARACHI: Sarwar Nanori, father of Shaukat Nanori, working for Sindh News channel in Khairpur district of Sindh province, was murdered on July 28 and his body bore signs of tortures.
The journalist’s father left home at 12pm on July 27, 2016, and his body, with torture signs, found at 9am on July 28, 2016, from a graveyard, the family said.
“Freedom Network demands of the Sindh government to investigate the murder of the journalist’s father and nab killers. Any delay in getting the facts known will spread unrest among the journalists across the province,” Freedom Network [FN], Pakistan’s first media watchdog organization, said August 1, 2016, in a press freedom alert.
Shaukat Nanori told Freedom Network that the murder of his father was “due to his reporting” targeting the influential personalities, police and dacoits in the district.
“Recently, I have filed a story against the persons who are doing illegal business of interests (giving interests-based loans) in interior Sindh province. Taking action on my reports, police have arrested several persons and cases were registered against the accused,” the journalist went on to add.
The journalist said he had no enmity with any person individually nor his family did have any enmity.
Sindh News channel’s management also said that the journalist had no enmity with any person, believing that murder of its journalist’s father was “purely due to his journalistic works” and his “investigative stories.”
Fayyaz, head of the Current Affairs Department and acting News Director of Sindh News channel, told Freedom Network that he approached Sindh Police chief AD Khawaja to take notice of this murder and orders inquiry into this mater.
Strong feudalism prevails in interior Sindh province where journalists are regularly targeted for taking up social and other issues in their reporting.
In the past, two journalists were killed for reporting on love affairs of couples.