Bashir Ahmed Nadem
Abdul Samad Rohani
KANDAHAR: An upcoming freelance journalist, working for Pajhwok Afghan News in the insurgency-torn southern province of Helmand, has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
The dead body of Abdul Samad Rohani, who went missing last evening while driving from the Nawa district to the provincial capital Lashkargah, was found in a graveyard Sunday afternoon.
The Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) head in the volatile province, who closely watched the corpse dumped in the Bolan burial ground near Lashkargah, said that the young reporter had received three bullets in his throat.
Ahmed Shah Pasoon told Pajhwok Afghan News the journalist had his hand tied behind his back before being murdered and that his throat was slit with a knife found beside his corpse. The killers also took away his cell-phones and car.
Associated with Pajhwok for three years as a freelancer and a full-time BBC reporter for a year, Rohanis body was shifted to a Lashkargah hospital for autopsy. During his career as a journalist, he reported on a wide range of issues under adverse circumstances.
A thoroughly professional and committed newsman, his incisive and impartial stories provided the Afghan government and the international community with insights into the problems besetting Helmand residents.
Meanwhile, an outraged Pajhwok Director Danish Karokhel condemned the killing of Samad Rohani as a cowardly act that violated all Islamic and human values. We equally share the profound grief of the bereaved family and join it in mourning his death.
Danish reminded security forces of their responsibility to take concrete steps for the security of journalists in the country. Several Afghan journalists including women have been killed and wounded in the line of duty in recent years.