Date:14/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/14/stories/2008051452111300.htm

National

CPJ mourns killing of photojournalist

Praveen Swami

New York: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has mourned the killing of photojournalist Ashok Sodhi during an encounter between security forces and militants at Samba town, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday.

Sodhi was a photographer for local English daily Excelsior.

“We are deeply saddened to learn the death of Ashok Sodhi while reporting in Kashmir, and send condolences to his family and colleagues,” CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz said.

“This is a sad reminder that journalists remain at risk in this volatile region,” he said.

Local reports quoting police said militants crossing the border from Pakistan were suspected to be behind the attack.

Twelve journalists, including Sodhi, have been killed in the region since the conflict between security forces and separatist groups escalated in 1989, according to a CPJ research report.