Muhammad Arif

Incident Description: Suicide attack

On October 19, 2007, a cameraman for ARY One World television channel, Muhammad Arif, was among 138 killed in bomb blasts that targeted the homecoming procession of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as she returned to Karachi after eight years of self imposed exile. Arif, who left behind a young wife and six children between the ages of one and seven, had recently been transferred to ARY’s London office and had delayed his departure in order to cover the return of Bhutto.

The two blasts that occurred just after midnight on October 19 also injured a number of journalists who had to be treated for shrapnel wounds. Among the injured journalists were Rashid Ali Panhwar, a reporter with the Electronic News Gathering (ENG) service of the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), who underwent surgery for the removal of a six inch shrapnel from his abdomen, Talat Anjum, a cameraman with APNA TV, and Syed Athar Hussain, a photographer with Daily Jurrat.