Pakistani TV anchorman gunned down in Karachi

Pakistanis have been paying rich tribute to a television journalist who was gunned down in in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday night. Mureed Abbas was an anchorman working for Bol News, a private television channel, was reportedly shot by his business partner Atif Zaman who later tried, according to the police, to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest. Abbas’s friend Khizar Hayat was also shot during the attack and he later died from his injuries in a hospital.

According to initial reports, Mureed was killed during a fight related to a personal dispute over some business investment that went wrong. The alleged killer who had threatened the anchorman reportedly called him to a café in a posh area in Karachi and gunned him and his friend down. The anchor’s wife, Zara, claimed in a video that went viral in Pakistan that the killer had called her husband at 8pm to collect Rs5 million owed to him. Mariam Nawaz Sharif, Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), tweeted to express sorrow on the assassination. “May Allah’s blessings be with him and his family. Rest in peace,” Mariam posted on the microblog.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the killing of Mureed Abbas Condemning the killing, PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb, demanded that the government take concrete and effective measures to protect the life of journalists. Major General Asif Ghafoor, the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Twitter that he was “saddened to know about the assassination of BOL TV young anchor Mureed Abbass.” “Share the grief of bereaved family and BOL TV administration. May Allah bless his soul. Aamen,” he posted.