Geo News reporter, cameraman shot at in Kohat

• Reporter, cameraman shot at on way back from Makhad Sharif Urs.
• Shah says assailants tried to chase them after attack. 
• Journalist sustains attack for the second time in a year. 

KOHAT: A Geo News reporter and a cameraman were injured after falling off a motorcycle when unidentified men opened fire on them on Rawalpindi Road in Kohar on Saturday.

As per details, Syed Yasir Shah, who is a senior journalist, and the cameraman accompanying him were shot at by two masked motorcyclists on their way back from Attock after covering the Makhad Sharif Urs. 

Shah, while talking to this correspondent over a phone call, said that they were injured as a result of falling off their motorcycle due to firing. The assailants also tried to chase us after the attack but fled later, he added. 

Both the injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Kohat. Fortunately, both of them remained safe from gunshots.

Shah is a senior correspondent of Geo News, working since 2007. He had been receiving threats for a long time. 

This is the second time the Kohat correspondent has been attacked in this year. A group of unidentified assailants detonated explosives and shot at Shah's residence in Kohat on March 21.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) released its White Paper on Global Journalism in 2020, ranking Pakistan as the fifth worst country for journalists, with at least 138 journalists murdered since 1990 and 42 killed in the last four years. 

As per Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Pakistan is one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, with three to four murders each year that are often linked to cases of corruption or illegal trafficking and which go completely unpunished.

The organisation last year ranked Pakistan 150 out of 180 countries on its press freedom list.