31-year old Hindu journalist shot dead in Pakistan during salon session

A 31-year-old Hindu journalist in Pakistan has been shot dead by assailants while he was getting a haircut at a shop in the Sindh province, media reports said on Saturday. Ajay Lalvani, a reporter with a local television station and an Urdu language newspaper Daily Puchano, died on Thursday after he sustained bullet injuries in stomach, arm and knee, The News International reported. He was sitting in the barber shop in Sukkur city when assailants on two bikes and a car drove by and opened fire.

Lalvani was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died. His father Dileep Kumar said that the family did not have any enmity, dismissing the police claim of the murder being the result of a personal enmity, according to the report. The police on Friday registered an FIR against three unknown assailants and launched an investigation. Condemning the killing, Hindu member of Pakistan's National Assembly (MNA) Lal Chand Malhi said that it is a matter of great concern. A group of journalists protested against Lalvani's killing and carried out a march after his funeral. They claimed that the incident was a target killing as they held the Sukkur Police responsible for the incident. Local traders also observed a shutter down strike against the killing.