Demonstration: Journalists protest over Kalat Press Club president’s murder

Demand government to arrest killers immediately, compensate bereaved families.

HANGU/ PESHAWAR:

Khyber Union of Journalists (KUJ) and Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Saturday staged a joint protest against the killing of Kalat Press Club president Mahmood Afridi in Balochistan and asked the chief justice of Pakistan to order a judicial inquiry into targeted killings of journalists.

Mahmood Afridi, who was associated with Urdu newspaper Daily Intekhab, was gunned down on Friday, two days after tribal journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan was killed in North Waziristan.

Media persons convened at PPC and chanted slogans against the government for its failure to protect journalists across the country. They also carried banners and placards demanding authorities to ensure their safety.

Addressing the protesters, PPC President Nasir Hussain said journalists were being targeted everywhere, including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), but the government is yet to launch a proper investigation to trace their killers. He added that 12 senior journalists have been killed in the line of duty in Fata during the last five years.

KUJ General Secretary Ali Hazrat Bacha demanded financial aid for the heirs of slain journalists. Senior journalists Bakhatzada Yousafzai and Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah said media persons in the tribal belt, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa face an uphill task due to deteriorating law and order in the region. They added the killers of Malik Mumtaz, Khushnud Ali Sheikh and Mahmood Afridi should be immediately arrested.

Meanwhile, journalists from Orakzai Agency also strongly condemned the murder of Mahmood Afridi. Media persons gathered for a meeting at Habib Market in Hangu and expressed profound grief over Afridi’s murder in Kalat, Balochistan and the murder of Malik Mumtaz Bangash in Miranshah, North Waziristan.

They said four journalists have been killed so far this year and the government has failed to provide security, adding that journalists have been prone to militant attacks. They expressed deep concerns over the inexorable rise in violence across the country and demanded the government to provide Shuhada packages for the bereaved families.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2013.