Senior TV journalist shot dead over trying to save local from robbery bid

KARACHI, February 18: : Senior journalist Athar Mateen, who was working as a producer in a private news channel, was shot dead on Friday over trying to save a citizen from robbery bid in North Nazimabad, area of Karachi. Unidentified gunmen targeted a private television channel’s senior producer Athar Mateen and sprayed his car with bullets near Haideri in North Nazimabad. He received three to four bullets on his body which caused his death. The tragic incident happened at 8:29am when the journalist was coming back after dropping his daughters at school. On the road, he saw that two dacoits were trying to snatch a motorcycle from a citizen. A car rider hit the muggers who fell down on the road and the rider drove away. Athar Mateen too did the same and hit them. But this time round, the street criminals opened fire on the car and the journalist was hit by their bullets. In a severely injured condition, he was taken to the Saifi Hospital where he breathed his last. Later, his body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for the post mortem. According to the doctor, Athar Mateen got a bullet in his chest which proved fatal and took his life. It could be seen in the CCTV footage that one criminal was wearing helmet and the other was putting on cap. The outlaws could also be seen running along with the motorcycle. Karachi Additional IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon informed that police were in possession of some material which might lead them to the accused. Police said that they recovered a shell of 30-bore pistol from the crime scene and it was sent for the forensic analysis. DIG West Nasir Aftab and the DIG CIA also visited the crime scene. Police recorded statements of four eye witnesses and started trying to track down the accused after seeing the CCTV footage. Slain Athar Mateen was the younger brother of anchor person Tariq Mateen. He is survived by a widow and two daughters. After the news of his murder, a large number of people including his relatives and journalist community reached his place. Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his sorrow over the sad killing of journalist Athar Mateen. He ordered the authorities to hunt the criminals and give exemplary punishment to them. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the killing of TV producer Athar Mateen. He summoned immediate report from the Additional IG Police. He expressed his condolences with the heirs of the deceased and journalist community as well.-NNI