AFJC is saddened to learn that journalist Palwasha Tokhi Meranzai was stabbed to death in broad daylight in northern Afghanistan; she had reportedly received a death threat about a month before the incident.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) is saddened to learn that Palwasha Tokhi Meranzai, a 26-year-old female journalist, was stabbed to death in broad daylight in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Tuesday 16 September 2014.
Palwasha, who had worked for the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Bayan Media Center, came under attack inside her house near the 3rd police district.
The Bayan Media Center Director, Hafizullah Majidi said that, according to Palwasha’s sister, the attacker pretended to deliver her invitation to a wedding party.
The assailant stabbed Palwasha in the head and chest soon after she opened the door, Majidi added.
The journalist worked with the media center for five years before leaving her job in 2012. She had just returned to Afghanistan after completing her master’s degree in Thailand three months ago.
About a month before the incident, Palwasha had informed the media center about a death threat, according to Majidi who asked the security forces to investigate the murder.
Deputy provincial police chief, Col. Abdur Raziq Qadiri told Pajhwok Afghan News, that the unidentified assailant managed to escape after killing the journalist with a knife.
Raziq added that police have launched a hunt for the killer.
AFJC strongly condemns Palwasha’s murder and calls on the local authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Palwasha is the second journalist killed in Mazar-e-Sharif in the past two months. On 12 July 2014, Khalid Agha Yaqubi, a 27-year-old employee for the local radio station Lahza in Mazar-e-Sharif, was shot in the head in front of his kids and the shooter managed to escape.
