Faiz Muhammad Sasoli

Incident Description: Shot Dead

On June 27, 2010, a reporter for Daily Aaj Kal and the Independent News of Pakistan agency, Faiz Muhammad Sasoli, was killed when gunmen opened fire on the vehicle he was travelling in, with his family members, in Khuzdar District in the Balochistan province. According to Reporters Without Borders, Sasoli had escaped two previous murder attempts. The former president of the Khuzdar Press Club died on the spot.

According to RSF, journalists said that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had claimed responsibility for his murder. “He had often received death threats and had been the target of two murder attempts. A Balochi nationalist group had accused him of being one of the leaders of the Baloch Defence Armed group, a pro-government militia that fights Baloch armed separatist groups,” the report read.

Speaking to PPF, Sasoli's brother Abdul Haleem claimed that neither the police nor the government is interested in pursuing the case and no one had been arrested. He added that the government had not even provided any compensation to the family of slain journalist.