LAHORE, June 27 2006: Four Indian and Pakistani journalists have been killed in the first six months of 2006 and national and international media organisations have condemned the Indian and Pakistani governments for their deaths. Data compiled by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) on the killing and kidnapping of journalists, especially, reporters, states that two reporters each have been killed in India and Pakistan. The number includes the recent killing of tribal journalist Hayatullah Khan, who went missing on December 5, 2005, while investigating the death of an Al Qaeda operative, and was found dead in North Waziristan Agency on June 16, 2006.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), SAFMA, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), Sindh National Front (SNF), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Indian and Pakistani trade unions have condemned the killings.
Pakistani-based organisations have also called for an end to the harassment of journalists by intelligence agencies, calling it dangerous and to flourish under President Pervez Musharraf’s rule. Hayatullah Khan: Tribal journalist Hayatullah Khan, who went missing on December 5, 2005, while investigating the death of an Al Qaeda operative, was found dead in North Waziristan on June 16, 2006. His body was found in the Khaisor Mountains, four kilometres south of Mir Ali. He hands were handcuffed and he had been shot in the head. He looked weak. Hayatullah is the third tribal journalist to be killed in the Waziristan region in the last one year.
Muneer Ahmed Sangi: Sangi, a photographer for Sindhi-language daily Kawish and cameraman of TV channel KTN, was shot dead while covering a clash between two tribes — the Unnars and Abros — in Samaee Unner village of Larkana Taluka (Taluka police jurisdiction) on May 28, 2006. Prahlad Goala: Goala, the correspondent for regional daily Asomiya Khaba, Assam, was murdered in Thuramukh, Assam, allegedly on the orders of Zaman Jinnah, Nambar Forest warden, whose corruption and misconduct Goala criticised in his articles.
Arun Narayan Dekate: On June 12, 2006, Dekate, correspondent for Marathi daily Tarun Bharat, Naag Pure, died of injuries sustained in an attack by four men at Wakeshwar turning point near Dongrgaon on Wardha Road. The victim worked as a rural correspondent in Takalghat village and was stoned at night while returning home with a friend on a motorcycle. He was taken to hospital and later succumbed to his injuries. He had recently exposed a gambling racket in and around Takalghat, where he was staying.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/27/2006
