PESHAWAR: The police on Tuesday arrested the principal accused in the murder case of a journalist after the court dismissed his pre-arrest bail application.He had been absconder in the case since long.

The University Campus Police arrested the main accused Sohail Khan after the District and Sessions Judge of Peshawar, Muhammad Younas, dismissed his bail before arrest application.

He was the accused in the murder case of young journalist Mansoor Khan. The accused persons had attacked the journalist with acid at the University of Peshawar campus. Mansoor Khan had received severe burn injuries and had expired after fighting for life for several days at the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Mansoor Khan’s brother Manzoor Khan said the murder was committed in 1990 and the accused has come into the custody of the police after a wait of 28 years. He said his family was hoping that the police would show no further complacency in the case and the joint investigation team would ensure that justice is done.

Lawyers including Abdul Fayyaz, Ali Tariq and Yousaf Riaz appeared for the deceased journalist in the case. Senior lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi represented the accused.

As per the previous order in the case, the trial court had declared Sohail Khan proclaimed offender on June 9, 1996 after he remained an absconder in the case.

“From the case file it was revealed that statements already recorded by the resident magistrate Peshawar indicate that a strong prima facie case has been made out against the absconding accused Sohail,” the order stated.

It added that the perpetual non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued against the absconding accused and the case file was to be kept intact till the arrest of the accused.

As per the order of the District and Sessions Judge, Muhammad Younas, the petitioner Sohail Khan, son of Junaid Khan, a resident of Bala Barmandkhel, Peshawar, sought a pre-arrest bail in the First Information Report of the case registered on June 27, 1990, under Sections 302, 449/34 Pakistan Penal Code at University Campus Police Station in Peshawar.

It said the allegations against the accused are that on June 27, 1990, the accused Sohail Khan along with an unknown co-accused in furtherance of their common intention committed the murder of Mansoor Ahmad by hitting him on his head and also throwing acid on his body.

Mansoor Khan was the staff reporter of Daily The Democrat. He had also worked for The Frontier Post, Peshawar. He also remained associated with the Peshawar Bureau of the daily The Muslim. He was a promising journalist who did some work for the foreign media as well.

The News

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ISLAMABAD: Condemning the murder of Sohail Khan, a journalist from Haripur in Hazara of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists’ (PFUJ) Afzal Butt group has announced to observe protest today (Thursday) across the country.

“We strongly condemn the killing of Sohail Khan and call upon the KP government to immediately arrest the culprits,” said a joint statement issued by PFUJ president Afzal Butt and secretary general Ayub Jan Sarhandi.

Mr Khan was a reporter of daily K2 and he was allegedly killed by members of drug mafia for publishing a news story against their activities. “We have been told that Mr Sohail was threatened of dire consequences by the drug mafia and he had reported these threats to the police as well,” the statement said. The PFUJ expressed disappointment that no protection was provided to the journalist even after his complaint.

The PFUJ leaders said that this was the second murder of a journalist in Haripur within a year.

Last year, Bakhsheesh Elahi — a reporter of daily K2 — was murdered in Haripur. People involved in the murder have so far not been arrested. “Failure to arrest the murderers of Bakhsheesh Elahi speaks volumes about the inefficiency of the KPK police,” the statement said.

The PFUJ directed its affiliated unions across the country to hold protests at press clubs or union offices and hoist black flags to condemn the murder of Sohail Khan.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) also announced to observe a black day on Thursday. Their protest demonstration will be held at 2.30pm at the National Press Club (NPC).

Earlier, Asia Programme coordinator of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Steven Butler held a meeting with members of journalists’ union groups.

The delegation was led by PFUJ president Afzal Butt and RIUJ president Mubarak Zeb.

Mr Butler was briefed on issues being faced by media personnel in Pakistan, including threats faced by journalists. He was also informed about financial woes of media workers due to delay in payment of salaries and layoffs.

Dawn

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SHABQADAR: When Mehboob Shah Afridi died in a suicide blast on January 19 in Jamrud, Khyber Agency, he became the 14th journalist from the tribal areas to lose his life while in the field since 9/11. Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world and the situation is far more volatile in Fata.

Apart from working for Aaj TV, Mehboob Shah was on a mission to unite the split Tribal Union of Journalists. He was the president of the Khyber Agency unit of the body and remained general secretary of the union till 2013. For his efforts at unifying the warring factions, the journalist visited Mohmand and Bajaur on December 18 and 19, 2015.

In 2004, Pakistani forces started the military offensive against extremist elements in South Waziristan Agency and journalists in the tribal belt have been collateral damage in the war on terror ever since.

It might have started earlier, some as disappearances, but it went on the record in 2005. The first to lose their lives were Allah Noor Wazir and Amir Nawab who were slain in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, after covering an agreement between security forces and a local militant commander. At the end of the same year, Naseer Khan became the third victim when he was killed in December by unidentified men in Darra Adam Khel, FR Kohat.

The fourth to fall prey to violence was Hayatullah when he was abducted in North Waziristan and later killed. His murderers remain unknown to-date.

Fast forward to 2008 and Dr Noor Hakeem Khan from Bajaur Agency was the fifth media representative to lose his life while covering a polio campaign in his native land in 2008.

Ibrahim khan was also murdered in Bajaur the following year when he was returning home after interviewing a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander.

The next two were from Mohmand Agency, Abdul Wahab Khan and Pervaiz Khan Mohmand, both of whom died in a bomb blast in December 2010 in Ghallanai. Following their tragic demise, Nasurullah Khan Afridi from Khyber Agency also died in a blast as a bomb had been planted in his car in Peshawar Cantt. Journalist Shafiullah Khan Orakzai was murdered in Hangu.

Mukaram Khan Atif of Mohmand Agency was killed in Shabqadar, Charsadda as he said his prayers in January 2012. In 2013, Malik Mumtaz Khan of North Waziristan was killed in his native tribal agency while on the way home and 2015 saw Zaman Mehsud killed in Tank, South Waziristan.

The last to lose his life was Mehboob Shah Afridi in Khyber Agency
on Tuesday.

When asked, founding member of the Tribal Union of Journalists and media veteran Selab Mehsud told The Express Tribune TTP only claimed responsibility for killing two journalists, Mukarram and Zaman, or those killed in bomb blasts which the militant outfit took credit for. In all the other cases, the murderers of the media persons have yet to be identified.

He said authorities had not provided any compensation to the families for which the deceased were sole bread earners in many cases. Mehsud added even international organisations working for the welfare of journalists failed to provide any assistance to the families of slain media men or raise their voice for security and compensation. The lives of journalists continue to remain under threat – with impunity.

Express Tribune

A Pakistani television journalist has been shot and killed by motorcycle gunmen in a tribal region in the country’s northwest that has been hit by a wave of attacks on members of the media.

Unidentified gunmen killed Hafeez Ur Rehman of Neo TV Nov. 22 near his home in the town of Kohat in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as North-West Frontier Province, news outlets including Iran’s Press TV said.

The motive for the killing of Rehman, 42, remains unclear. No groups or individual have claimed responsibility yet. Rehman, who covered the region for Neo TV and previously edited his own newspaper, had not reported any threats made against him, Agence France-Presse reported. He is the second journalist to be killed in Pakistan this month and the third to be killed since September.

A local reporter, Zaman Mehsud, was shot five times in the same region Nov. 3. A Taliban commander later told Reuters his group was responsible for Mehsud’s death because of his “writing against us.” The commander also told the news agency the group had other journalists on its hit list in the region.

In September, a satellite technician for Pakistan’s Geo News and a former reporter for the network were killed in separate incidents in Karachi, and a third journalist was wounded in a shooting attack in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 71 Pakistani media workers and journalists have been killed while practicing their profession in Pakistan since 2001 , according to a report Nov. 1 report released by the Pakistan Press Foundation. Of the 71 killed, the deaths of 47 journalists were directly related to their work, according to the report. Only two of the cases have resulted in criminal convictions.

Global Journalist

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists and it is becoming an increasingly difficult place for media personnel to work here safely.

Pakistan has been a “frontline state” for almost four decades, which has polarised society and destroyed people’s sense of security.

Over the last decade, I’ve seen Pakistan’s media industry experience remarkable growth and transformation, largely due to the advent of private TV channels. However, the safety and security of media practitioners here has deteriorated markedly.

More than 50 journalists have been targeted and murdered since 2002, according to research by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).

The threat to journalists like me has grown dramatically in the past decade with the alarming rise in militancy. The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have posed an ever greater threat to journalists – and to all citizens – since 2002 when, in the wake of 9/11, the government began to try to counter their rising power and influence.

Journalists are not only targeted by militants, but also by political, religious, ethnic and other pressure groups, as well as law enforcement agencies.

For every journalist who has been deliberately targeted and murdered, many others have been injured, threatened and coerced into silence.

The increase in threats and violence has forced many of my colleagues to resort to self-censorship, relocation or even to leave the profession altogether. As a consequence, news reports from conflict areas are based on press releases, not on observations by independent journalists, so they often lack credibility and do not inform the public in an objective manner.

Incidents of threats, attacks and killings of journalists are also clear evidence of the entrenched culture of impunity enjoyed by those who attack and murder journalists, which seriously undermines freedom of expression in the country. And it’s not just journalists, there’s been a worrying rise in attacks against bloggers too; since the start of the year, four bloggers have been hacked to death.

Pakistan ranks in the top 10 on the Impunity Index compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Other global media freedom watchdogs such as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders share similar concerns on the deteriorating safety situation for the media in Pakistan.

But there have been some positive developments.

In 2014, we saw a Pakistani court convict six defendants for their role in the murder of a Geo TV journalist who was shot dead in Karachi in 2011. This was only the second time that court convicted murderers of journalists, the other being the killers of Daniel Pearl, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

The creation of the Pakistan Coalition of Media Safety (PCOMS) has been another bright spot. PCOMS has been working to implement the UN Action Plan Against Impunity in Pakistan and has played an important role in bringing together multiple national and international organisations.

The Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Pervez Rasheed, is a member of PCOMS’ steering committee and has endorsed the UN Action Plan Against Impunity. But so far I’ve seen very few concrete efforts made by the government to promote the safety of media professionals.

The safety of media cannot improve substantially if it remains predominantly an initiative of civil society organisations.

International News Safety Institute