The chief of UNESCO, the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom, on Friday strongly condemned the recent murders of two Pakistani journalists, and expressed concerns over the continued deteriorating security of journalists in the Asian country.
"The brutal murders of Tariq Kamal and Murtaza Razvi stand unequivocally condemned. Every attempt must be made to bring their killers to justice," Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said in a news release.
"These latest killings, coming less than one month apart, highlight once again the dangerous conditions in which journalists in Pakistan work. This is cause for alarm and requires urgent action, in the name of press freedom and the rights of citizens to be informed," she added.
According to the press release, Tariq Kamal was a reporter working with a Sindhi language daily published in Karachi. He was reported missing along with a friend on May 7, and their bodies were found two days later. Kamal's family said he had left Karachi for another town in the province of Sindh on May 3 to follow up what he described as an 'exclusive' news story.
Murtaza Razvi, on the other hand, was a well-known columnist and political analyst with the national English language daily Dawn. His body was found strangled and tortured in a Karachi apartment on April 19.
According to UNESCO, 25 journalists and media workers, including Tariq Kamal and Murtaza Razvi, have been killed in Pakistan since 2002.
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