The media again came under attack in the Valley when the editor of a local news agency was shot dead by two unidentified men who barged into his office in the Press Colony this evening.Parvaz Sultan, the editor of News and Features Agency, died before he could be carried to hospital. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.Two men showed up at Sultan’s office around 6 pm and began inquiring about him. ‘‘Pervez sahib was working on his computer. I thought the men were his guests. But moments later, they shot him in the neck,’’ said office boy Mohammad Iqbal who witnessed the killing. Sultan’s assailants fled in the dark. ‘‘I saw them flee. I didn’t know what to do. Parvaz sahib, who was bleeding profusely, somehow made it downstairs and then fell down,’’ Iqbal said.Sultan was rushed to the city’s SMHS hospital where doctors declared him dead. He is survived by his wife and three children.In Kashmir’s troubled 13 years, several scribes have been targeted by militants. Sultan’s death brought to at least seven the number of journalists killed by gunmen. These include Doordarshan director Lasa Koul, Sayedain Shafi, Mohammad Shaban Vakil and Mushtaq Ali.Pradeep Bhatia died in a car explosion, set off by militants, in August, 2000. Eight photo journalists were injured in the blast. Last June, Zafar Iqbal, sub-editor of Srinagar newspaper Kashmir Images, was injured when he was shot at. Shahid Parvez, editor of an Urdu daily, was also shot at last year.Twelve years after the killing of Mohammad Shaban Vakil, editor of Urdu daily Alsafa, there’s still no word on who his assailants were.
