0
LAHORE: Police have found the body of a journalist working for a London-based online news site in Lahore, police said Saturday.
Faisal Qureshi, 28, who worked for Internet publication The London Post, was murdered early Friday, senior police officer Razzaq Cheema told AFP.
“His throat was slit and there were stab wounds on his body,” Cheema said, adding that Qureshi, a bachelor, lived alone in his family home where he was found, and no arrests had yet been made. “The motive is not clear.”
His laptop and mobile phone were missing, another police officer said, adding that Qureshi had also been working for an IT firm in Lahore.
One of his brothers, Zahid Ahmed, told police Qureshi had been “receiving threats” from unidentified people over some news reports in his paper.
“He was victim of targeted killing. My brother had been murdered because of stories he sent to his paper,” he said, but did not name any group or party thought to be responsible.
The online publication is edited by his London-based older brother, Shahid Qureshi.
Another Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad, was found dead on May 31 outside the capital in a killing blamed on his coverage of links between rogue navy officials and Al-Qaeda.
At the time, Reporters Without Borders said 16 journalists had been killed since the start of 2010 in Pakistan, which it ranks 151st out of 178 countries in its press freedom index.
