A local journalist has been shot dead by unidentified persons in the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a report by Rural Media Network Pakistan (RMNP). The slain journalist identified as Waseem Alam was the joint editor of local newspaper Sada-e-lawaghir.

A murder case has been registered against unknown persons on a complaint filed by Alam’s mother.

According to a police report, Alam was returning home on his motorcycle on Saturday when he was targeted near the Batani Khel Government School. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Police investigators have claimed that there was no clue so far that Alam was  gunned down for his journalistic work.

An official of Karak Police Station told Dawn that one of the suspects was the victim's own father.

"His father was not present at the hospital nor did he attend the funeral," said the official, adding that the father had been living with relatives and not with his own family for some time. The journalist's mother has, however, not named anyone as a suspect in the FIR.

Alam’s widow and his brother said Alam never mentioned any kind of threat nor did he have any enmity with anyone, according to the RMNP report. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has condemned Alam’s murder and directed the authorities concerned to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

RMNP has condemned the brutal murder of the journalist and demanded immediate arrest of the killers. RMNP President Ehsan Ahmed Sehar urged the chief minister to announce compensation to the victim’s family.

Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous places for journalists, with 128 having been killed in the country in the last two decades, according to RMNP.

Ten journalists were murdered in 2020, as per RMNP monitoring.