(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to accept the demands of journalists’ organisations following the murder of kidnapped reporter Hayatullah Khan, who was found shot dead in the tribal zone of North Waziristan on 16 June 2006. “We support the call for an independent head of the investigative commission and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to accept the demands of journalists’ organisations following the murder of kidnapped reporter Hayatullah Khan, who was found shot dead in the tribal zone of North Waziristan on 16 June 2006.
“We support the call for an independent head of the investigative commission and that it should include at least one journalist, to uncover the truth about the abduction and death of Hayatullah Khan,” the organisation said.
“If this murder goes unpunished, the entire profession will be entitled to consider the State as an enemy of investigative reporters”, it added.
Reporters Without Borders pointed out that another Pakistani journalist, Munir Mengal, head of the Baluchi-language TV channel Baloch Voice, was abducted at Karachi international airport on 7 April by secret service agents. “The fate of Hayatullah Khan makes us fear for the life of Munir Mengal and we call for his immediate release,” the organisation said.
A delegation of Peshawar journalists met the governor of the North Western Frontier Province, Lt-Gen. Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, on 19 June to ask him to include a journalist in the investigative team into Khan’s murder, which he refused to do.
Prime Minister Aziz announced at a conference of the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) in the southern city of Karachi on 18 June that a judicial investigation headed by a high court judge had already been opened and the government would award financial compensation to Khan’s family. He called the news of the journalist’s death “unfortunate and disturbing”.
On the same day, more than 800 people took part in a peaceful demonstration in the tribal region of Bajaur, shouting slogans including “We want press freedom”, “We demand protection for journalists in the tribal zones” and “Arrest Hayatullah’s killers”.
Almost 5,000 people attended Khan’s funeral on 17 June. The journalist leaves a widow and three young children. On the same day, journalists and opposition members staged a walk-out of Parliament in Islamabad in protest against the murder. They rallied in front of the homes of the prime minister and the president shouting “Killer, killer, government killer”.
Interior Minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said that the authorities “would do their utmost to punish those responsible for this barbaric act”. He also met the journalists and promised them that Khan had not been kidnapped by the Pakistani secret services. He said the security services had done everything to find him alive.
