The protest by journalists of newly merged districts against the killing of local scribe Khalil Jibran continued for a second consecutive day in the Khyber tribal district on Friday. A large number of journalists, lawyers, and political and social leaders participated in the demonstration held at Bab-e-Khyber.
They demanded a judicial inquiry by a higher court in the brutal murder of Jibran. The slain journalist was a former district president of the Tribal Union of Journalists who had constantly complained of receiving threats from terrorists. The demonstrators carried banners and placards and marched from the Jamrud Press Club to Babe-Khyber.
Tribal Union of Journalists President Qazi Fazlullah, Khyber Union of Journalists President Nasir Hussain, Peshawar senior journalist Shamim Shahid, Pakhtunkhwa Union of Journalists President Shams Mahmand, Khyber Bar Association President Farhad Afridi, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Shah Hussain, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Murad Hussain and others delivered speeches on the occasion.
The speakers demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the murder and fix responsibility. They also said journalists in tribal districts had been facing serious threats from terrorists for the last two years without inviting any attention from the quarters concerned.
The government, however, has shown its traditional negligence in protecting journalists, they said, due to which a powerful voice like Khalil Gibran had been silenced forever. They added that the fear of terrorism in the area could be gauged by the fact that a local lawyer, Sajjad Advocate, who had been injured in the attack on Jibran, was refusing to record his statement with Landi Kotal police. As protest participants raised slogans against the government, the speakers demanded the arrest of Jibran’s killers failing which, they said, the protest movement would continue.
They also demanded that security agencies use all modern means and machinery to apprehend the killers.
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