Wasi Ahmad Qureshi

Daily Azadi, Balochistan Express

April 16, 2009, in Khuzdar, Pakistan

Gunmen fired at point-blank range on Qureshi and his colleague, Muhammad Siddiq Mosiani, near a newsstand in Khuzdar district in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on April 11, according to Qureshi’s editor and local news reports. Qureshi was treated in a local hospital for two gunshot wounds to the stomach, but died five days later, news reports said. Mosiani survived, according to the reports.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, according to Asif Baloch, the editor of the Quetta-based Daily Azadi. Local officials said they were investigating but had made no progress, he said. Although some news reports said militants from the separatist organization Baluchistan Liberation Army carried out the shooting, Baloch said they had not claimed responsibility and had no known reason to attack the journalist. 

Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.