ISI backed dummy organization threatened to kill four Baloch journalists

| by A Special Correspondent

(November 29, Balochistan, Sri Lanka Guardian) Following the release of a hit list including the names of four journalists, the Khuzdar Press Club announced on Saturday that the journalists of the Khuzdar district would suspend their professional duties by Sunday for an indefinite period of time.The Pakistan’s secret agency ‘’ISI’’ backed dummy organization , Baloch Musallah Defa Army (BMDA), issued a hit list of four journalists belonging to Khuzdar and said it would soon target these journalists. The journalists are Abdullah Kidrani, Abdullah Shawani, Munir Noor and Abdul Haq.

The spokesperson of BMDA, who introduced himself as Mir Jang Baloch, told reporters at the Naushki Press Club that his organisation would target those journalists who were working as informers of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), he Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and other separatist groups. The organisation threatened the Khuzdar Press Club president and said that he should not allow the press club to be used for ‘negative activities’.

A Khuzdar-based journalist said on the condition of anonymity that the government was solely responsible for all the killings. No news is worth dying for. “We have already lost four of our colleagues in Khuzdar alone during the past year-and-a-half.”

Another journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity, laid the blame squarely on the government and called the BMDA agents of the government and security agencies.

The decision to boycott professional activities came following a meeting of journalists where they decided that they will finalise their future course of action after consultation with journalist unions in Balochistan as well as all over Pakistan.

Pakistan has been declared one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work in as a journalist. The Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked Pakistan the tenth most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work.More than five Baloch journalists killed in year 2011 by Pakistani secret agencies.