WAJAHAT LATIF
June 23 2006: Hamza Rabia, a senior Al Qaida operative, was killed in Mirali, North Waziristan on 1st December last year. The government claimed that he had been killed in a blast in his house when he was fabricating an explosive device. The local people asserted, however, that the death was the result of a missile hit, which had been fired by a US drone. Hayatullah Khan, a young journalist, arrived at the scene and took pictures of pieces of the missile, which showed US government markings. Apart from reporting for a number of daily newspapers, he worked for a western wire photo service. His photos received extensive coverage in the domestic as well as foreign media, and squarely debunked the official story.
There were a number of casualties of innocent people in this incident, including a student. On 5th December, his friends and mates planned a demonstration in Mirali: Hayatullah was there to cover the demonstration. According to reports, this is when five masked men who were armed kidnapped him. Hayatullah Khan, 29, a member of the Dawar tribe from Waziristan, was a familiar face, often shown on the TV when he reported from the tribal area. His reports had integrity and most people trusted their veracity. In the ongoing conflict in Waziristan, often they demolished the government claims, as starkly illustrated in the case of the death of Hamza Rabia.
Since then the journalist community, including Reporters Sans Frontier, and human rights organisations here and abroad have been protesting, issuing statements and writing on his disappearance. Speculations as to who kidnapped him were rife. Hayatullah was once detained in 2001 by the US forces in the Afghan province of Paktika from where he was reporting on US military operations. According to one report, the Americans believed him to be a secretary of Mullah Umar, the Taliban leader. He was detained in the Bagram military base in detention and interrogated for two months after which he was released.
On that basis, Hayatullah’s disappearance in December gave rise to rumours of the US involvement, but the US Consulate in Peshawar categorically denied them through an official statement on the 10th May.
Some people also suspected the Taliban to have kidnapped him on account of speculation that he had located Hamza Rabia to the US forces. The so-called militants not only in a statement but also through a letter too denied this to Hayatullah’s family. Last June 23, 16th June; Hayatullah’s body was found in the open, about seven-km south of Mirali. His younger brother, Ihsanullah, told reporters (on telephone) that Hayatullah was handcuffed and had been shot from behind five times. The body had no torture marks. He concluded that his brother was probably shot as he was trying to escape from his captors. Hayatullah is the third tribal journalist to be killed since the Waziristan operation started. February last year, masked men killed two journalists in Wana, South Waziristan.
According to press reports, Ihsanullah was in touch with the local intelligence operatives and government officials after his brother was kidnapped. He claims that they kept assuring him that Hayatullah was alive and well, but had been detained in relation to matters of national interest. Ihsanullah says that he got the tragic news about his brother from local tribesmen, and was later asked by a Major of the ISI to collect the body. He says he knows which agency had detained his brother, “without an iota of doubt”.
Hayatullah has left behind a family: a young wife and four children. They are all proud Dawar tribal people, too proud to approach the government for support. But the humanitarian side of this tragedy is obviously traumatic and evokes poignant sympathy for the family.
The Prime Minister has ordered a judicial enquiry into this killing. The Law Division has since notified a judicial commission (Peshawar High Court judge) that will report it’s finding in 30 days. He has also announced “compensation” of Rs 500,000 for the family and said that the government would bear the educational expenses up to college level of Hayatullah’s children. Not to be left behind, the new Governor of NWFP has announced a “compensation” of Rs 500,000. But someone who knows the tribal tradition of the area believes that the financial help is unlikely to be accepted. According to press reports, the Governor has also set up three inquiry commissions to submit a report in two weeks. Why three commissions, has not been explained.
Also unexplained is the reason for the NWFP Governor appointing these commissions when a judge of the Peshawar High Court has already been appointed as the judicial commission by the federal government. The compulsion seems to appear to be taking action, going nowhere. Otherwise one inquiry, impartial, independent and transparent, would be sufficient to bring the culprits to book. Hayatullah Khan Dawar was a journalist, young and daring. The universal outrage at this tragedy is therefore understandable. The International Federation of Journalists has given a strongly worded statement, condemning the growing violence against media workers in Pakistan and supporting the nationwide protests against it. His death would not be wasted if all this outrage could convert itself into a force to demand a rule of law.
A matter of deep concern, reports of disappearances are coming from all provinces. The families of those who have disappeared in Baluchistan gather in front of the press club and the High Court in Quetta almost daily. Several complaints about disappeared persons are pending in different High Courts. People have become too cynical to believe that the administration means business and fear that the inquiries into Hayatullah’s killing will also peter out. They do not expect much from a government increasingly seen as insensitive, unworried about the problems of the common man. Beyond the posh cars, if the complete domestic picture of the country is taken into account, crime, violence and poverty stand out. Incidents of mysterious disappearances and killings are now spreading alarm. The picture becomes scary when you realise that the government’s credibility is reaching a critical low. The inquiries into the kidnapping of Hayatullah, his disappearance for over six months and death could well become a test case for them in front of a frustrated and disturbed nation.
Source: The Nation
Date:6/23/2006
