Freedom Network is appalled by murder of missing Baluch journalist Abdul Razik Baluch in Karachi on Wednesday (21 August 2013) after reported missing since 24 March 2013.
 
“Disappearance and killing of journalists with Baluch ethnic background is totally unacceptable and the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should make this case a test case for his administration to fight impunity of crimes against media in Pakistan,” Freedom Network demanded.
 
The family took 24 hours to recognize the body of missing Baluch journalist Abdul Razik Baluch whose body with torture signs was found in Karachi on Wednesday (21 August 2013) after he went missing on March 24, 2013.
 
 
“The body was so mutilated that we took 24 hours to recognize it,” Saeeda Sarbazi, sister of the late Baluch journalist told BBC Urdu in Karachi on Thursday (22 August 2013).
 
She said they could identify Razik by his arm and leg as his face was beyond recognition and was “badly tortured.”
 
When the family was informed of Razki’s body on Wednesday (21 August 2013) they said it was not him. However, when they again checked the body they found it was him.
 
 
Two bodies were found on Hub Road on August 21 and one of them was believed to be Razik’s.
 
Baluch journalists in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, said Abdul Razik was working with Baluch-language Tawar newspaper, as proof-reader and sub-editor in Lyari town’s office and reported missing since 24 March 2013.
 
The journalists did not point finger at any state or non-state actors. However, both the state and non-state actors are blamed for attacks on media in Baluchistan.
 
A Karachi-based journalist said: “His body was so decomposed that the relatives could not identify the body but the police said that a slip was found with the body with his name and address too.”
 
Media is under serious threat in Baluchistan ever since insurgency flared up following the Baluch leader, Sardar Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder on 26 August 2006. Four out of six journalists killed this year were from Baluchistan.