Hasan Zaib was killed on July 14 by two individuals riding motorcycles who opened fire on his car in Akbarpura Bazaar, a crowded market area in Nowshera district, according to district police. Zaib was travelling in the vehicle with his brother, Anwar Zaib, who escaped the attack. The journalist, who was employed by local television channel Aaj News, died at the scene and his body was taken to a nearby hospital.
Hameed Khan, a police officer at the Akbarpura Police Station, told the media, “Two unidentified bike riders opened fire on the journalist, leaving him dead on the spot. Initial investigation suggests that the slain journalist had no personal enmity.”
A First Information Report was registered the same day under Section 302 of the Pakistani Penal Code, following a report by the journalist's brother, with an investigation team formed to probe the murder. Paramilitary officers have already gathered evidence and CCTV footage from the crime scene, which clearly shows two attackers shooting at Zaib’s car.
Zaib is the eighth journalist to be killed in Pakistan in the first seven months of 2024, already a record annual number. On June 18, Khyber News journalist and former President of the Landi Kotal Press Club Khalil Jibran was fatally shot while travelling home from a dinner party. Two journalists were killed in just three days in May, with KP-based digital journalist Kamran Dawar fatally shot in North Waziristan on May 21, and Sindh journalist Nasrullah Gadani killed on May 24, after sustaining multiple bullet wounds during an attack on May 21.
Pakistan has seen a rise in militant violence in its two western provinces, KP and Balochistan, since the Pakistani Taliban called off a fragile truce with the government in November 2022, with attacks intensifying in recent months.
The PFUJ said: “The culprits should be arrested immediately, and a thorough investigation should be carried out into this attack.”
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “IFJ strongly condemns the heinous killing of journalist Hasan Zaib, which marks the eighth journalist murdered in Pakistan in 2024 alone, a record annual number in only seven months. The Pakistani government’s failure to adequately protect journalists and ensure their safety is unacceptable and has allowed a state of widespread impunity to continue. We demand immediate and decisive action to bring the perpetrators to justice and to implement effective measures to safeguard the lives of media workers. The culture of violence against journalists in Pakistan must end now.”