PESHAWAR: A journalist was gunned down with his colleague sustaining serious injuries after being targeted by unidentified assailants in Peshawar on Monday.

The victims, identified as Noorul Hasan and Sabir, worked for a private television channel in Nowshera. The duo was travelling on the busy Ring Road when they were intercepted by armed men and fired upon.

Hasan was shifted to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, with Sabir’s condition said to be critical. The body of the deceased has been handing over to his family.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Inspector General Police Salahuddin Khan Mehsud took notice of the incident, and ordered a detailed report into the matter.

Further, Capital City Police Officer Peshawar has been ordered to personally oversee the investigation.

Meanwhile, the K-P Union of Journalists has condemned the murder and demanded to take to task those responsible for the murders.

“The K-P government and security forces have failed in ensuring the protection of the journalists,” read a statement by the journalists’ organisation.

The Express Tribune

Related Story

The News: Journalist shot dead in Peshawar

Dawn: Journalist shot dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A Nowshera-based reporter of a private television channel was shot dead in the limits of Pishtakhara police station here on Monday afternoon, police said.

An official told Dawn that Nurul Hasan was shot dead near the Achini Chowk on the Ring Road by unknown motorcyclists. He said Hasan’s other companion identified as Shams was injured in the incident and shifted to hospital.

The official said the motive behind the shooting was not immediately known. KP police chief Salahuddin Khan Mehsud took notice of the killing and directed the city police chief to investigate the case and arrest the killers.

Dawn

Related Story

The News: Journalist shot dead in Peshawar

Parliamentary journalists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday staged a token walk-out of the house to register protest against the murder of the Haripur based journalist Sohail Khan. The Haripur based journalist had been shot dead after he submitted a formal application with the concerned police station of his district. The deceased was reportedly receiving threats from drug mafia. The incident has triggered a national wide protest of the country community.

After the walkout of the journalists from the Press Gallery of the provincial assembly, Deputy Speaker Mahmood Jan and Advisor to CM for industries, Abdul Karim Khan came out of the house and held negotiations with the protesting journalists.

They were chanting slogans demanding protection for journalist. The recent cold blooded murder of the journalist is second similar incident as another journalist associated with the same organization Bakhshish Elahi was killed six months back.

On the assurance of conducting inquiry and arrest of the accused the journalists ended their boycott of the coverage of the house proceedings.

The Speaker, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani issued directives to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for submitting reports to the house tomorrow.

 Business Recorder

KARAK: The district and sessions judge here on Wednesday convicted a man for killing a senior journalist and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs500,000.

The judge Syed Kamal Hussain Shah, however, acquitted a co-accused, Khoob Niaz, who is brother of the convict Aminullah, due to lack of evidence.

The judge ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against Aminullah and the evidence on record was enough for his conviction.

As per the police report, the complainant Mukhtiar, brother of the deceased journalist, Ayub Khattak, had claimed that brothers, Aminullah and Khoob Niaz, had shot dead Khattak after he reported a story regarding drug smuggling in the district.

During trial of the case, the complainant’s lawyer submitted that the local journalist had reported a story regarding the activities of the accused persons in the area, which had annoyed them. He said prior to his killing, the accused persons had given him life threats. The counsel had demanded capital punishment for the convict.

As per the police report, said the counsel, both the accused shod dead the journalist when he came out of his house in Takht-i-Nusrati area on Oct 11, 2013.

Meanwhile, the brother of deceased journalist showed dissatisfaction over the court’s decision, and said that the judgment would be challenged in the Peshawar High Court. He said the convict should have been given death sentence.

Dawn
Related News
The News: Man gets life term in journalist’s murder case
Pakistan Today: Drug-pusher gets life sentence for killing journalist, another acquitted

BRUSSELS: Pakistan is fourth on the list of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists, and comes behind Mexico, Philippines and Iraq according to an International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) report released on Wednesday.

The report which chronicles journalist deaths since 1990, says that at least 2,297 journalists and media workers have been killed in the last 25 years, with Iraq ranking as the deadliest country with 309 killings followed by the Philippines (146), Mexico (120), Pakistan (115), Russian Federation (109), Algeria (106), India (95), Somalia (75), Syria (67) and Brazil (62).

Journalists lost their lives in targeted killings, bomb attacks, in the cross-fire and kidnappings in wars and armed conflicts across the globe while others were killed by organised crime barons and corrupt officials, the IFJ said.

Some 112 journalists and media professionals were killed last year alone, although the peak year was 155 killings in 2006, it said.

“At least 2,297 journalists and media staff have been killed since 1990, “the report said.

With just one out of 10 killings investigated, the IFJ said failure to end the impunity for killings and other attacks on media professionals only fuels the violence against them.

“This milestone publication charts the trajectory of safety crisis in journalism and bears witness to the IFJ’s long running campaign to end impunity for violence against media professionals,” IFJ President Jim Boumelha said in a statement.

“These annual reports were more than just about recording the killings of colleagues,” Boumelha said.

“They also represented our tribute for their courage and the ultimate sacrifice paid by journalists in their thousands who lost their lives fulfilling the role to inform and empower the public,” he added.

Since 1990, the Asia Pacific region registered the highest death toll at 571, followed by the Middle East with 473 killings, the Americas at 472, Africa at 424, and Europe with 357 dead.

The IFJ called on government officials, security and military officers and others who deal with them to respect their independence.

It urged “governments to comply with their international obligations by investigating journalists’ killings and bringing those responsible to justice, thus deterring future violence. “

Dawn

KARACHI: Two suspected hitmen allegedly belonging to a banned sectarian outfit and involved in a dozen targeted killings, including those of policemen and three media workers, were arrested on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.

Karachi-West DIG Feroze Shah added that the police apprehended Naveed, alias Tanveer, and Saqib in Nazimabad.

“The held suspects belonged to a banned sectarian outfit,” added the officer.

Speaking at a press conference in his office, the DIG said that Naveed was a local leader of the banned outfit.

“They were involved in 12 murder cases in 2014 and 2015,” the DIG said.

They had killed three workers of Express TV in an armed attack on their digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) vehicle in Nazimabad in January 2014. Besides, they were also involved in killing of seven policemen. Furthermore, they also targeted members of the Shia community on sectarian grounds, the police added.

Replying to a question, the DIG said that the suspects targeted the Express channel workers to create an atmosphere of fear, undermine the effects of the ongoing targeted operation against criminals and deter media from reporting.

Dawn

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcating Pervaiz Rasheed on Monday said that terrorists cannot silence the voice of the journalists and stop the government from rooting out the menace of terrorism from the country.

He stated this while addressing the participants of a protest march organised here by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), National Press Club (NPC) and Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) to condemn the cowardly attack on the office of a private news channel in Faisalabad.

“All the state institutions put in their best efforts to make Zarb-e-Azb a success and it needs no mention that the media has been playing a vital role in the war against extremism and terrorism in the country. Now the terrorists are on the run and they are finding no place to hide due to which they are attacking innocent citizens of Pakistan,” he said.

The minister said the people of Pakistan have showed their strong opposition to the terrorists and their ideology and now the nation is united to support ongoing Zarb-e-Azb till elimination of last terrorist from the country.

He mentioned the sacrifices so far rendered by the journalists in war against terrorism and maintained that the people of Pakistan would never forget the services of the media persons who are being targeted but never ready to stop their professional work. PFUJ President Afzal Butt said the recent killing of a senior journalist Hafeezur Rehman in Kohat and terrorist attack on the office of a private television channel in Faisalabad clearly show why Pakistan has been declared the most dangerous country for the journalists.

“I regret to mention here that when National Action Plan was announced the incumbent government promised to provide security to the media houses but no step has so far been taken in this respect. The journalists are being targeted by the terrorists and the government is doing nothing to provide them security,” he said.

He said: “Those who think that they would mute the voice of the media through terrorist acts would bite the dust because the journalists never ever bowed down even before the military dictators and continued their work against all odds.”

RIUJ president Ali Raza Alvi said the government must take effective measures to provide foolproof security to the media houses, adding “The journalists sacrifice their lives in war against terrorism but the government never arrest their murderers due to which the number of terrorist acts against them is increasing day by day.”

RIUJ general secretary Bilal Dar said the journalists, people and all state institutions have been rendering sacrifices in ongoing war against terrorism and coward attacks on media houses showed that the terrorists are getting frustrated with each passing day.

The News

KOHAT: Television journalist Hafeezur Rehman was shot dead by unidentified people in Kalo Banda, Kohat on Sunday morning. He was the second journalist in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to lose his life in such a grizzly manner in 2015.

A police official said Rehman was on his bike when he was targeted by the gunmen. “He was hit by three bullets and died on the spot,” said Fazal Naeem, a police spokesman in Kohat. The assailants managed to escape after committing the crime.

Kohat police registered a case against unidentified culprits on the complaint of the deceased’s brother Asim Naeem. Rehman was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard and his funeral prayers were attended by a large number of people.

Besides reporting for a private television channel, he also used to run a daily newspaper called Asia. However, financial constraints resulted in the publication winding up about a year ago. The journalist also worked as a correspondent for a national Urdu daily and owned a television cable operating company. Rehman had been a journalist for 12 years.

Not the first

The murder came weeks after a similar attack on print journalist Zaman Mehsud in Tank. Mehsud was also gunned down by unidentified people.

“He was riding his motorbike from his hometown Gomal towards Tank city when unidentified men intercepted him near Dabara and started firing at him,” a police official told The Express Tribune at the time. “The journalist was injured and rushed to District Headquarters Hospital Tank before being shifted to Headquarters and Teaching Hospital DI Khan.”

Zaman was shot four times: twice in the chest and as many times in the legs. He was admitted to the intensive care unit, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

The Tribal Union of Journalists in South Waziristan had strongly condemned Zaman’s murder. “It is unfortunate that journalists are either being killed or injured or are forced to leave their homes,“ the union president Shah Zaman had said at the time.

Zaman was associated with Daily Ummat Karachi, Nai Baat and was also reporting on Waziristan and its adjacent district, Tank, on his Twitter page @GomalNews. He was once the president of Tribal Union of Journalists in South Waziristan. In addition to working in the field of journalism, Zaman was associated with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan as its South Waziristan coordinator.

He belonged to South Waziristan Agency, but settled with his family in Nursheez village of Gomal in Tank.

A perilous profession

Since 1992, 19 journalists have been killed in Pakistan but without clear motive, according to the website of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non-profit organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide. The victims include Ijaz Mengal of The Daily Intekhab who was killed on February 14, 2014 in Khuzdar. Also, Haji Abdul Razzaq Baloch of Daily Tawar was killed in 2013 in Karachi, Mehmood Jan Afridi of The Daily Intekhab was murdered on March 1, 2013 in Kalat, Malik Mumtaz of Geo TV and The News International was slain on February 27, 2013 in Miranshah and Aurangzeb Tunio of Kawish Television Network lost his life on May 10, 2012 in Lalu Ranwak.

The website states the deaths of at least 56 journalists in the country had established motives; 32 were murdered, 21 were killed while on dangerous assignments and three died in crossfire.

Express Tribune

New York: Pakistani authorities should conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the killing of journalist and rights monitor Zaman Mehsud, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday.

Gunmen fatally shot Mehsud on November 4, while he was riding his motorcycle in the Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “We killed him because he was writing against us. We have some other journalists on our hit list in the region, soon we will target them,” Taliban commander Qari Saifullah Saif has claimed the responsibility for the attack in a statement to Reuters.

“The Taliban’s claim of responsibility for killing of a journalist showed a cruel disregard for human life and free speech,” said HRW Asia Director Brad Adams. “Pakistan’s government needs to move to bring the perpetrators of attacks on journalists to justice if these crimes are to stop,” he stressed.

Mehsud was a monitor for the nongovernmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in South Waziristan. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may have killed Mesud for his reporting on the armed conflict and human rights situation in South Waziristan, the HRW said. The attack occurred a day after the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. More than 35 journalists and media workers have been killed in Pakistan because of their work since 2010. On the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index, Pakistan was ninth on the list of countries in which the most journalists were murdered without the attackers being prosecuted. Pakistani journalists routinely face harassment, intimidation, assault, kidnapping, and arbitrary arrest and detention.

On September 9, unidentified assailants gunned down Aftab Alam, a senior journalist, near his home in Karachi. In April 2014, unidentified gunmen attacked Hamid Mir in Karachi. In January 2011, Wali Khan Babar, a 28-year-old reporter, was shot dead in Karachi. While the trial court convicted those accused of killing Babar, at least five people associated with the investigation, including a witness, police informers, police officers, and a prosecutor, have been murdered.

In 2011, Saleem Shahzad, a reporter for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and for Adnkronos International, the Italian news agency, disappeared from Islamabad. His body, bearing visible signs of torture, was discovered two days later. The circumstances of the abduction raised concerns that the ISI was responsible. The commission of inquiry constituted to investigate the killing failed to identify those responsible.

The Pakistani government has recently adopted measures that further constrict the space for free expression, Human Rights Watch said. On October 1, the government announced a restrictive policy on international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), mandating that they register and obtain prior permission from the Interior Ministry to work in the country in specified fields and geographical areas. The INGO policy has provisions that facilitate arbitrary restrictions on the rights to freedom of association, expression, and assembly, rights protected under the Pakistani constitution and international law, it added.

“The Pakistani government, by clamping down on free expression and fundamental rights, is creating an environment that makes journalists and human rights defenders even more vulnerable,” Adams said. “The first step toward protection of journalists and rights defenders is to enable an environment of free expression. The Pakistan government needs to start by providing protection for at-risk journalists, while revising and repealing its restrictive laws and policies,” added Adams.

Daily Times

TANK: Tribal journalist and human rights activist Mohammad Zaman Mehsud was gunned down in an ambush in Tank, southern district of Khyber Pakhtun­khwa, on Tuesday, only a day after the International Day of End Impunity Against Journalists was observed the world over.

Police and witnesses said that Zaman Mehsud was going to Tank from Gomal bazaar on his motorcycle when he came under fire near the Dabara refugee camp. Zaman Mehsud was injured and taken to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) which referred him to the DHQ hospital in Dera Ismail Khan where he succumbed to his wounds. The assailants who were on a motorcycle managed to escape after the attack. According to the post-mortem report, the journalist was hit by 10 bullets.

Zaman Mehsud was working as a correspondent for Urdu language dailies Daily Ummat and Nai Bat. He served as president and secretary general of the South Waziristan chapter of Tribal Union of Journalists’. He hailed from the Mantoi area of Ladha in South Waziristan and was residing in Tank. He was also a monitor of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s South Waziristan chapter.

Soon after the attack, a large number of journalists from Tank and South Waziristan reached the hospital.

Aslam Khan, a brother of the slain journalist, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified killers. He said the deceased who was the lone bread earner of his family, had no enmities with anyone. Zaman Mehsud leaves behind his wife, three sons and two daughters. The funeral will be held at Narsez IDP camp in Tank on Wednesday.

HRCP SHOCKED: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed grief over the killing of Zaman Mehsud.

The commission, in a statement, said: “We announce with great sorrow and grief, the passing of Zaman Mehsud, a dedicated member of the HRCP family and our monitor from South Waziristan.” The local hospital, the HRCP said, did not have adequate facilities to treat him and he was moved to a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan where he expired on the operating table.”

“HRCP offers sincere condolences to the bereaved family. The commission hopes that this latest addition to our list of martyrs to the cause of human rights will not dampen the spirit of the deceased’s colleagues and will reinforce their resolve to work for the rights and dignity of all human beings with the same commitment as before, ” the statement said.

Dawn