{"id":9068,"date":"2020-06-18T17:51:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pakistanpressfoundation.org\/?p=99201"},"modified":"2020-06-18T17:51:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:51:35","slug":"wali-babar-murder-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wali-babar-murder-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Wali Babar murder case"},"content":{"rendered":" $\"Wali$ \n

EDITORIAL: Sindh\nInformation Minister Nasir Shah held a special press conference on Monday to\nannounce that “the killer of journalist Wali Khan Babar has been arrested.”\nThe accused was identified as Sheikh Mohammad Karmran alias Zeeshan. It may be\nrecalled that the young broadcast journalist, Wali Babar, was gunned down in\nJanuary 2011 while on his way home. Both the minister and city police chief\ndescribed the arrest as a “great success” of the law enforcement\nagencies even though it took nine long years for them to lay their hands on the\nwanted man, who had been awarded death sentence in absentia by an\nanti-terrorism court. About half a dozen other accused are already behind bars.\nAll of them are said to have been active members of the MQM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the exact\nreason behind Wail Babar’s killing is not known, what is known is that\njournalists during the 2008-2013 period could express opinions critical of, or\nunfavourable to, the then MQM supremo, Altaf Husain, at their own risk. Wali\nBabar, apparently, got on the wrong side of him. Hitmen later pursued and\neliminated all five witnesses (one of them hiding in Lahore), including a\npolice officer, in Mafioso style to strike fear in the hearts of all others.\nTimes have changed drastically since. As regards this case, no one needs to act\nout of fear or favour. Much will depend on how well the prosecution prepares\nits case that can stand scrutiny in a court of law, unlike the situation in\nAugust 2017, when the Sindh High Court had set aside a death sentence awarded\nto one of the accused by the ATC ordering retrial of the case. It is hoped no\nstone will be left unturned to ensure everyone involved, the instigator and the\ninstigated, are held to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nimpunity for the killers of journalists in this country remains one of the\nhighest in the world. Those reporting from the restive regions are particularly\nvulnerable to violence from different parties to a conflict, and those in\nsmaller towns from politically influential individuals. Just last February Aziz\nMemon, an interior Sindh-based journalist, was found dead in mysterious\ncircumstances a few days after he had complained of life threats in a video\npost. The case would have remained covered up as suicide had it not been for\nthe media attention the killing received. According to a Freedom Network\nreport, as many as 33 journalists were murdered during the recent years for\ntheir work. And as per Pakistan’s Impunity Scorecard, 32 FIRs were registered\nfor the 33 murders during 2013-19. Only in 20 cases the police filed challans,\nout of which six were fit enough to go for trial. That actually led to just one\nconviction which too was overturned at the appeal stage after the victim\njournalist’s family gave up pursuit due to lack of resources. This must stop.\nAll such killings and other crimes must be properly investigated and culprits\nbrought to justice. Pakistan must get rid of the epithet of being one of the\nworld’s most dangerous countries for journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper: Business Recorder<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"