Pakistani News Anchor Shot Dead in Karachi After News Channel Ban

ISLAMABAD - On 8 July, Pakistan’s electronic media regulator (Pemra) issued notices to 21 TV channels for airing unedited live telecasts of PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz’s 6 July press conference in Lahore, in which she claimed that a judge convicted her father under coercion.Mureed Abbas, a news anchor, was gunned down on Tuesday night in a high-security area of Karachi.Police said he was working with the Bol News Channel of Pakistan and was killed over a personal dispute.He was with his friend outside a café when Atif Zaman, allegedly shot them according to Pakistani media reports.Initial investigations suggest that the accused had a monetary dispute with Abbas, and had asked the victim to a café in the city’s Khayaban-e-Bukhari area, under the pretext of returning the money he had borrowed. The accused shot Abbas and his friend down and fled the scene.Senior Police official Sharjeel Kharal said, a police party raided the residence of the suspected killer, but he shot himself fatally in the chest, just as the police arrived.

Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Hospital confirmed Abbas was dead on arrival to the hospital with multiple bullet wounds on his chest and abdomen.

Spokesperson of Pakistan Armed Forces Major General Asif Ghafoor expressed condolences over the incident in a Tweet.
The incident has evoked a sharp response on social media, with many finding the country's political situation to be the root cause of the murder. One netizen called it "the murder of democracy" while others commented that the newscaster had been silenced for being vocal about the current political situation in Pakistan.