Pakistan: Main suspect in murder of journalist Athar Mateen killed in police raid

Mar 01, 2022

Karachi [Pakistan], March 1 : The main suspect in the murder case of Pakistani journalist Athar Mateen has been killed in a raid, police said on Tuesday.
Karachi West police along with the Qamar-Shahdadkot police party conducted a raid in the area to arrest the culprit. The raid was conducted on receiving a tip-off for his presence in the area.
As the suspect saw the police, he opened fire at them. Upon retaliation from the police side, the suspect was killed. Notably, till now police have taken two suspects involved in the murder of Athar Mateen in custody.
The provincial government in Pakistan's Balochistan on Wednesday claimed to have arrested the alleged killer of journalist Athar Mateen from the Khuzdar district.
The Pakistani journalist was shot dead last Friday in an armed attack on his car in Karachi's North Nazimabad area.
Balochistan's Parliamentary Secretary Bushra Rind said that the alleged killer of Athar Mateen was arrested in a joint operation launched by Sindh and Balochistan police, The News International newspaper reported.
The Parliamentary Secretary maintained that the alleged killer of the journalist is being shifted to Karachi from Khuzdar.
While speaking on the rising crimes in Karachi on ARY News transmission, Athar's brother last week had said that people in Karachi fear that their belongings will be looted and thus they have to hide their cash and phones.
He criticized the Pakistani government saying, "The government functionaries only had to issue a condemnation after every such incident without taking concrete steps to deal with it."
Furthermore, while grieving he said that the police station was less than a kilometre away from where his brother was shot.