Pakistan: Blogger, Journalist Bilaal known for criticizing ‘army’ murdered

Islamabad/New Delhi: Speaking against the government is often considered a punishable offense but raising voices of dissent and criticizing the running government also nowadays comes with a huge price.

Muhammad Bilal Khan, a 22-year-old freelance journalist and Pakistani blogger known for his criticism of the Pakistani military and the country’s spy agency – the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was reportedly hacked to death in Islamabad yesterday, TN reports.

The police reports confirmed blogger Khan was gunned down by unidentified assailants in the G-9/4 area of Islamabad after he was taken to a nearby forest area.

Khan who was a young emerging journalist had a significant online presence with 16,000 followers on the micro-blogging platform Twitter, 48,000 subscribers on his Youtube channel and 22,000 on Facebook.

After the incident, the hashtag #Justice4MuhammadBilalKhan is trending on the internet.

“I can’t put into words the sadness I feel for this young kid. An outspoken braveheart. The world is not for the honest for the true. May you rest in eternal peace dear son Bilal Khan. My heart goes out to the loved ones he left behind,” responded British-Pakistani journalist Reham Khan on Twitter.

“This morning, Pakistani blogger Bilal Khan dared to mock Gen Faiz Hameed, the new head of Pakistan’s feared internal security agency, the ISI. Within hours of his tweet, he was shot dead by persons, suspected to be ISI hitmen. This my friends is Naya Pakistan,” wrote another Pakistani-Canadian journalist and commentator Tarek Fatah on Twitter.