Journalist shot dead in Rawalpindi

Raja Asad Hameed, a senior reporter with the English Language daily The Nation in Pakistan, was shot dead last night in Rawalpindi,

Unidentified armed men on Thursday night killed Raja Asad Hameed, senior reporter of a local English daily. The incident took place at 10pm, when the armed men came to Hameed’s house and rang the doorbell. When he opened the door, the men shot and killed him. A large number of journalists from Islamabad and Rawalpindi rushed to the Central Hospital and took Hameed’s body to his residence. link

UPDATE: The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and Sadiqabad Police have launched an investigation into the murder.

“The crime scene has been properly preserved with footage and drafting and police have also recorded statements of some eye-witnesses,” they said.

“Hameed’s mobile phone data of two hours before his killing has been also collected through mobile detection system and if investigators failed to establish any link with the culprits with the help of this data they would compile a comprehensive investigation record of last 48 days including mobile phone calls and his routine life to trace the culprits,” said the sources. link

Journalist murder cases are rarely solved in Pakistan and concerns were recently raised as to the worsening situation for journalists in the country. Meanwhile Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced a donation of 0.5 million rupees to the family of Hameed.