Nisar Ahmed Solangi

Incident Description: Shot Dead

On June 17, 2007, a reporter for Sindhi newspaper Daily Khabroon, Nisar Ahmed Solangi (known as Noor Ahmed Solangi), 30, was shot dead in the Pir Jo Goth area in the Khairpur district of Sindh. Solangi had come to Pir Jo Goth from his village Machhyoon for an urgent piece of work when two armed persons on a motorcycle opened fire, killing him on the spot.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), nine bullets were fired at Solangi after he was “ambushed” by six armed individuals on motorcycles. They shot at him “point blank range as he was distributing newspapers”. His body was brought to Taluka Hospital Kingri for an autopsy after which it was handed over to his heirs. A large number for residents from Machyoon village and its adjoining areas carrying the body had staged a sit-in.

Shops and bazaars in Machyoon, Kot Mir Muhammad and Kot Pull were also closed in protest against the murder. Then District Police Officer (DPO) Khairpur Din Muhammad Baloch had rushed to the scene and assured protesters that the killers would be arrested very soon, after which the demonstration ended Solangi’s relatives said that he was killed by dacoit Naboo Junejo as a tribal feud between the Junejo and Solangi clans was going on.

According to RSF, a friend of Solangi’s, Khan Muhammad, said the slain journalist had received death threats from the Sindhi tribe, Junejo, two days prior to his death as they were unhappy about his reports. “The journalist had written an article contesting allegations by Junejo members that a rival clan had killed some of its members in a recent clash.

The journalist asserted that they had been killed by police officers.” Solangi’s family had begun legal proceedings against members of the clan. Additionally, a Sindh TV News reporter, Abdul Khalid, said that Solangi had been killed because of his profession, dismissing a theory that he was killed for ethnic reasons.

Solangi's brother Dildar Solangi told PPF that the case has been closed in 2012 and Session Court Khairpur had handed down a 25 years imprisonment sentence to Haji Bakht Junejo and Nazir Junejo. Two other accused were declared innocent.