21 June 2006
MISSING PAKISTANI JOURNALIST FOUND DEAD; INDIAN REPORTER KILLED
More than six months after being abducted in Pakistan's North Waziristan province, journalist Hayatullah Khan has been found dead, report the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Khan's handcuffed body was found on 16 June 2006 in the town of Mir Ali, from where he was kidnapped last December. He disappeared on 5 December after his car was stopped by five gunmen.
A day before his abduction, Khan had reported that a senior al-Qaeda figure, Hamza Rabia, was killed by a U.S. missile on 1 December, notes RSF. Khan's photographs of the purported remains of a U.S.-made missile contradicted Pakistani army claims that Rabia died in an accidental explosion while making a bomb.
Khan was a reporter for the Urdu-language daily "Ausaf" and a photographer for the European Press Photo Agency. He had received numerous threats from Pakistani security forces, Taliban members, and local tribesmen because of his reporting, according to CPJ.
Last March, he told his family that Pakistani authorities reportedly pressured him to quit journalism or to take up a government job in another part of the country which would have effectively silenced him.
On 18 June, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced that a judicial investigation headed by a high court judge had been opened and the government would award financial compensation to Khan's family.
On the same day, more than 800 people took part in a peaceful demonstration in the tribal region of Bajaur calling for justice and urging authorities to provide more protection for journalists.
Pakistan's Interior Minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said authorities "would do their utmost to punish those responsible for this barbaric act," reported RSF.
Journalists who report in Pakistan's tribal areas work under increasingly dangerous conditions, says CPJ. In 2005, two journalists were killed when they were ambushed by men armed with machine guns. I
n May 2006, "Daily Times" correspondent Mujeebur Rehman narrowly escaped assassination in Wana when masked gunmen fired at him in a drive-by shooting. Security forces also make it difficult for journalists by systematically restricting access to conflict zones in tribal areas.
Meanwhile, in India, police in Maharashtra state are investigating the death of Arun Narayan Dekate, a journalist for the daily newspaper "Tarun Bharat", report IFJ, CPJ and RSF. Dekate died on 10 June 2006 after being attacked two days earlier by four unidentified men in the village of Takalghat.
A motive for the attack has not yet been determined. Dekate's murder may be linked to articles he wrote in "Tarun Bharat" exposing an illegal gambling racket in Takalghat, according to CPJ, IFJ and RSF. Dekate had also helped local police in their investigation, which led to several arrests.
He was the second journalist killed in India since January 2006, according to RSF.
Visit these links on Dekate's murder:
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/asia/india15june06na.html
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=3982&Language=EN
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17996
- IFJ Report on India: http://www.ifj-asia.org/files/india_overview.pdf
Visit these links on Khan's death:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18050
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/attacks05/asia05/pak_05.html
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=3993&Language=EN
- BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5096008.stm
- Frontline Report "Inside Pakistan's Tribal Areas": http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/search/tribal/
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