Nasrullah Gadani

Nasrullah Gadani was a journalist and social media activist primarily working in the Sindhi language. He was known for his activism against the feudal lords of Sindh, both in print and in digital form. He was shot dead by unknown assailants in May 2024.

Early life

Nasrullah Gadani was born in the village of Qabool Gadani near Mirpur Mathelo in the Sindh province of Pakistan. He belonged to a poor family and only got basic education.^[2]

Career

Gadani began his journalistic career with the Sindhi language newspaper, Awami Awaz, with which he remain associated until his death. He later used to go live on YouTube in a form of spot reporting. He campaigned for access to education, end of feudal hegemony, and environmental conservation.^[2] He was arrested in May 2023 for exposing the corruption of a local judge before being subsequently released at the intervention of a regional organization working for the safety of journalists.^[3]

"Bhotar, my foot"

In the aftermath of the 2022 Pakistan floods, Gadani rode his motorbike through the inundated streets of his hometown, asserting in his live broadcast, "O people of the town, you can see the faces of your elected assembly members in these dirty and disease-borne waters." Instead of a registration plate on the back of his motorcycle, he inscribed the words "Bhotar My Foot" (Sindhi, "Masters, my foot".)^[2] The slogan became a top trend on Sindhi social media.^[4]

Lund incident

One of his last exposes was doing a live broadcast on the protocol given to Shahbaz Lund, the son of a local MP. On his motorbike, he rode besides the motorcade and questioned how a non-entity like Lund could get an official police protocol. He was subsequently fired at by Lund's guards before he managed to escape.^[2]

Assassination

In the morning of 21 May 2024, Gadani was making his way to the Mirpur Mathelo Press Club, of which he was president, on his motorbike when he was targeted by 3 assailants in car. He was shot three times in the chest and abdomen, and was immediately taken to the local hospital for emergency first aid.^[5] After that he was transported to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital across the nearby regional border into Punjab. With his condition worsening, Gadani was airlifted to the Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi, where he succumbed to his injuries on 24 May 2024.^[6]

Gadani's body was brought to his hometown via ambulance, along the way it was stopped several times by students and onlookers to shower it with rose petals in a sign of respect for the slain journalist. His funeral was attended by thousands of locals and he was laid to rest later in the day.^[7] Over the past 4 years, Gadani was the 13th journalist who was killed in Sindh, the highest number across Pakistan.^[8]

Investigation

Gadani's family, including his mother and two close relatives, maintain that he was killed on the orders of the local MP, Khalid Khan Lund, and his son, town mayor, Shahbaz Lund. The family also named Lund's second son, Noor Muhammad Lund, in their statement and decried that the local police had not included their names in the First Information Report (FIR) because they were powerful and belong to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. The family was only able to record their statement, 40 days after the murder of Gadani.^[9]

On 1 June 2024, local activists moved the Sindh High Court to form a judicial commission to probe the murder of Gadani and showed mistrust on the ongoing official investigation.

On 10 June 2024, Sindh police claimed to have arrested one of the culprits, Asghar Lund, and recovered the murder weapon from him.^[10]

See also

• Freedom of the press in Pakistan

References