Pakistani journalist is shot after criticizing the military
By Salman Masood
ISLAMABAD — A veteran Pakistani journalist who has been critical of the country’s powerful military establishment was shot near his home Tuesday (20) but survived, officials said.
The shooting sent a chill through Pakistan’s journalist community, which has come under withering pressure from the military and its allies in the nation’s governing party.
The journalist, Absar Alam, who has also served as the chairman of the country’s electronic-media regulatory authority, was wounded when he was shot during an evening walk at a park near his residence in Islamabad on Tuesday. Officials said Alam was in stable condition.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the country’s interior minister, said he has ordered an investigation, and Fawad Chaudhry, the information minister, condemned what he called an assassination attempt.
In a video message soon after the shooting, Alam said that he was hit in the ribs by a bullet and that he did not know the gunman. “I will not lose hope and I am not going to be deterred by such acts,” he said in the video as he was being transported to a nearby hospital. “This is my message to the people who got me shot.”
Alam did not make any specific accusations about who might be behind the attack. But many journalists noted that just two days before, he posted tweets accusing the country’s powerful intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, of pressuring him in 2018 to feature critical coverage of the previous government, led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, during anti-government protests.
Alam has mentioned threats against his life before, and he is viewed as being sympathetic to the PML-N party, which has been critical of the military’s hold on power.
Attacks and threats against journalists have become commonplace in Pakistan. One of the most notable attacks came in 2014, when the influential talk-show host Hamid Mir was shot and wounded in Karachi in an assault that his family blamed on the country’s intelligence agencies.
On Tuesday, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a leader within the PML-N party, condemned the attack on Alam.
“Silencing the voice of dissent is a cancer that has plagued this country for many years,” she said in a Twitter post. “Absar Alam Sahab is the latest victim of this cruel & barbaric crime.”
-New York Times
Absar Alam, former chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) poses for a portrait in Islamabad,Pakistan – Caren Firouz/Reuters