Senior Pakistani journo Hamid Mir shot at in Karachi

Award winning journalist and anchor for Geo TV Hamid Mir was shot at by an unidentified gunman as he was on his way to his office in Karachi from the airport at around 5.19 pm on Saturday. Mr. Mir’s driver showed presence of mind and didn’t stop till he reached a private hospital.

Mr. Mir who was sitting in the backseat of the car was shot in the pelvic area and is undergoing surgery. His driver told Geo TV that he picked up Mr. Mir from the airport and reached the Natha Khan flyover a little distance away when he slowed down and was about to turn right onto the main road. He said he saw one man firing at the back of the car but didn’t stop to look and sped away to the hospital.

He said there was someone else following the car but he didn’t see the others and only saw this one man who fired at least four times. The white car has been punctured with bullet holes and the windows have been shattered.

The driver said there was no police anywhere and Geo TV reporters from the spot said an entire magazine was found to be emptied there. Karachi police chief Shahid Hayat said that he did not know that Mr. Mir was coming to Karachi. However, he added that he had sustained three bullet injuries and is reported to be out of danger. He also said his guard was with him at the time of the incident but did not fire. Reports from the hospital said that one of the bullets had hit his large intestine and a surgery was being performed.

Other reports said that after the lone gunman opened fire, there was a motorcycle and a car which followed Mr. Mir’s car for a good distance firing all the while.  Mr. Mir also called his colleagues at Geo and reported to them that he was being fired at and followed.

In November 2012, a bomb was found fitted to his car in Islamabad which was luckily discovered and defused by the bomb disposal squad.

Mr. Mir has been receiving life threats for a while and it was Geo reporters who informed the police about the attack. He hosts a popular TV show called Capital Talk and was one of the few journalists who supported the long march for justice to the Baloch missing persons led by Mama Qadeer. He has been decorated with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz and is among the journalists who have interviewed Osama Bin Laden.

The latest attack comes after a brazen attempt on the life of Raza Rumi, a TV anchor for Express News, on March 28 in Lahore in which his driver was killed. While Mr. Rumi had a miraculous escape, his guard sustained bullet injuries. Mr. Rumi is a contributing editor for The Friday Times, a columnist, and author of a book on Delhi as well.

Senior journalists Ansar Abbasi and others have been receiving threats recently and Express News TV has been targeted with three staffers being killed some time ago in Karachi and two other bomb and gun attacks on its Karachi head office. Mr. Rumi used to anchor a TV show called "Khabar Se Agay" which he had finished recording and was at Raja Market when the incident occurred.

Source http://thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/senior-pakistani-journo-hamid-mir-shot-at-in-karachi/article5929069.ece/