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

The most recent addition is the Radio Khilafat station of the Islamic State (IS).

The station has traumatised locals not only in the tribal areas, but as far as the settled area of Charsadda near Mohmand Agency.

“They’ve been running all sorts of propaganda,” a resident of Charsadda tells The Express Tribune. “Most of the content is a call for recruitment.”

The battle for the airwaves in the northern parts of Pakistan is nothing new, but an IS-backed radio station is. A concentration of various militant outfits formed their basis on the areas bordering with Afghanistan.

The Khalifat Radio and a station being run by a banned outfit have been running their campaigns from across the border with intermittent transmissions, threatening the local population. The frequencies may have varied, but the messages stay the same.

A senior security official says the radios are being run from three main areas in Afghanistan—Nazyan, Archeen in Nangarhar and Kunar. “The radio transmitter is at a height of more than 7,000 feet which makes the reception area wider,” he reveals. “That is why the transmission can be heard in areas far [and wide] even though [the stations] are operated from within Afghan territory.”

Not only Pakistan, but the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, in his unannounced visit to Kabul on Friday, had warned of “nests of IS” in Nangarhar. His views were earlier corroborated by General John Campbell who leads international forces in Afghanistan. He said IS militants had gathered over the last six months in Nangarhar and Kunar.

The developments on the Durand Line are not isolated incidents. In its previous maneuvers, the IS had managed to attract a faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters who pledged allegiance to IS. The latter is now helping these fighters take on the Afghan Taliban.

A former jihadi and current politician in Afghanistan says one reason for this could be the fact that they all swore allegiance to Mullah Omar who is no longer there. “How else would you explain the same people fighting against each other?” he asks. “If IS manages to capture Afghan Taliban, they slaughter them,” he explains. “What they did to locals in Nangarhar is another story.”

He says in the absence of an administration, locals are leaking information to the Afghan Taliban to counter IS after a five-year-old child was killed along with his family.

Another security official in Pakistan says it is easier for militants to setup an FM transmitter as little equipment is required. He adds the presence of people affiliated with banned outfits who escaped the military operation is a recurrent problem.

However, he says these recent developments have not gone unnoticed. Meanwhile, officials in Pakistan have been quick to deny any radio transmissions from high profile militant commanders on its airwaves.

Express Tribune

According to the local media, the radio broadcast can be heard in Halimzai Tehsil of Mohmand Agency.

The brodcast begins after Maghrib and lasts for an hour. First there is a sermon that lasts for 30 to 40 minutes. Rest of the broadcast consists of naats and Jihadi anthems.

Pakistan Today