Mehboob Khan

The December 27 assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto plunged the nation into further turmoil after months of violent unrest and a bitterly contested state of emergency. An aggressive domestic press corps was in the middle of the momentous events, questioning government assertions and being targeted by government censorship.

New York, July 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Javed Khan, a photographer for the Islamabad-based daily Markaz and a cameraman for U.K.-based DM Digital TV. Khan was shot in the chest and neck on Tuesday while caught in crossfire between government forces and the students of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, according to media reports.

Israr Ahmed, a cameraman for CNBC Pakistan, suffered three gunshot wounds during the clash and was reported in critical condition with injuries to his spinal cord, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. Khan and Ahmed were filming vehicles set ablaze by students of the Lal Masjid, according to the press freedom organization Pakistan Press Foundation.

New York, July 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Javed Khan, a photographer for the Islamabad-based daily Markaz and a cameraman for U.K.-based DM Digital TV. Khan was shot in the chest and neck on Tuesday while caught in crossfire between government forces and the students of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, according to media reports.

Israr Ahmed, a cameraman for CNBC Pakistan, suffered three gunshot wounds during the clash and was reported in critical condition with injuries to his spinal cord, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. Khan and Ahmed were filming vehicles set ablaze by students of the Lal Masjid, according to the press freedom organization Pakistan Press Foundation.

New York, May 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of freelance photographer Mehboob Khan, who was killed in an April 28 suicide bomb attack aimed at Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao. The minister escaped with minor injuries, but 28 people died in the attack at a political rally in the small town of Charsadda in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Three other journalists were injured: ATV cameraman Arif Yousafzai; Siddiqullah, a reporter for the Urdu-language paper Subah; and reporter Ayaz Muhammad of the Associated Press of Pakistan.