The Sindh government and police on Monday announced the arrest of four suspects from a banned group in the murder case of journalist and anchor Imtiaz Mir.
Mir, who was associated with Metro News Last month, he was heading home in the car driven by his elder brother when six assailants riding two motorcycles fired a volley of bullets at his vehicle on the National Highway. The presenter suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a private hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Journalists strongly condemned the police’s inaction in failing to arrest the attackers and demanded their immediate arrest. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, many members of his cabinet and political party leaders had expressed grief, and CM Shah ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG) to immediately arrest the killers.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, IG Ghulam Nabi Memon and Additional IG Javed Alam Odho held a press conference today on updates in the case.
“Four people have been arrested for the murder of journalist Imtiaz Mir,” Lanjar said, adding that Karachi police and a federal intelligence agency carried out a joint operation.
“The culprits belong to a banned organization that used to receive instructions from abroad,” he added.
Lanjar termed it as a breakthrough in the murder case, adding that the bicycle used in the attack was also recovered.
Mir’s brother Riaz Ali had registered a case under sections 34 (common intention) and 324 (attempt to murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Saudabad police station, naming a man and his sons for the attack.
The perpetrator claimed that the attack was carried out at the behest of Umer Daraz and his two sons, Ahmed Bux and Aftab, with whom they had a land dispute in their hometown of Jacobabad.
Saudabad station officer Ateequr Rehman had said Sunrise that both parties belonged to the same tribe. He recalled that the late anchor had also filed an FIR against the same suspects with the Shah Latif city police in 2023.
According to a report published last month by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), 87 journalists were killed in Pakistan between 2006 and 2023, and only two of those cases were “solved.”
