Geo News anchor Hamid Mir stable: hospital

KARACHI: leading Pakistani journalist and TV anchor Hamid Mir who was shot in an attack in Karachi is conscious and in a stable condition, his hospital said Monday.

Hamid Mir, who hosts a prime-time current affairs talk show on the Geo News channel, was attacked on Saturday while travelling by car to his office from the airport in Karachi.

The government has announced a special commission to investigate the attack and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

A spokesman for Karachi´s Aga Khan University Hospital said Mir was "conscious and stable

Mir has survived previous attempts on his life including a bomb under his car last year which police defused before it could go off.

Imran Aslam, the president of Geo, said Mir himself would lodge the official police complaint about the attack -- known in Pakistan as a first information report (FIR) -- as soon as he is able.

"We are waiting for Hamid´s early recovery so that he could himself lodge the FIR," Aslam told AFP.

He said Mir´s condition was stable but he was "not in a position to lodge the FIR"."Let´s hope he gets better and back to work with renewed vigour.

"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Mir in hospital and said the judicial commission was starting work to investigate the shooting.

Journalists held rallies on Monday in Islamabad and Karachi to protest against Mir´s shooting.

groups have called Pakistan one of the world´s most dangerous countries for journalists.Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says seven reporters lost their lives in Pakistan last year.ak-ga/pdw/lto