32 bullet wounds on slain Geo TV reporter

Friday, February 20, 2009 at 2:02 am

The body of slain Geo TV reporter Musa Khankhel was riddled with 32 bullet wounds in what is being described as a “deliberate and planned” killing in volatile Swat, as hundreds of Pakistani journalists on Thursday (February 19) took out protest marches across north-west Pakistan and vowed not to back down.

The killing of 28-year-old Musa, a Swat correspondent for private Geo TV, by unknown gunmen triggered a wave of anger among the journalists who condemned the killings of scribes in the troubled region. The attacks against media men are an attempt to scare them away from the restive region, they said.

The journalists wearing black bands on their arms and foreheads shouted slogans like “We want justice!”, “We want Musa Khankhel’s killers arrested!” and “we salute Musa Khankhel’s courage!”, as they staged protests outside the governor’s house in the main North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) city of Peshawar.

Musa’s colleague Hamid Mir said they would not be cowed down and will not stop reporting from the tense Swat region and demanded that the killing be investigated and those responsible brought to justice. Marches were taken out in Peshawar, Banu, Nowshera and Mansher – all in the NWFP.

At the rally at Swat, where the reporter was killed, speakers, who included Hamid Mir and journalist union leaders, termed the killing as “deliberate and cold blooded” so that the “happenings” there do not reach the outside world.

Mir said Musa’s killing was “deliberate and planned” as his body had as many as 32 gunshot wounds. Azhar Abbas, the managing director of Geo, said Musa had been shot several times in his upper body, and his throat was partly slit.

Meanwhile, the Taliban said it was not involved in the journalist’s killing. Protest meetings and rallies were held in many cities and towns, including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, and journalist bodies demanded the arrest of Khankhel’s killers.

The protesting scribes also asked the government to take steps for the safety of journalists, particularly those working in conflict areas as some media organisations decided to pull their employees out of the restive Swat region.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists said it was a matter of “great concern” that journalists and crews of TV channels who went to Swat to cover the situation there after the signing of the peace deal had decided to return due to security concerns.

In a statement, the PFUJ said it shared their concerns. Local journalists in Swat decided to observe mourning for 10 days to protest the murder and appealed to the PFUJ to conduct an investigation into the matter.

The PFUJ said it would name a team to conduct a probe into Khankhel’s killing and public its findings. “We are journalists and it’s our responsibility to probe the murder of our colleagues and we will do that,” the PFUJ said. A team of journalists will also go to Swat to express solidarity with local journalists and the family of Khankhel.

The International Federation of Journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders too condemned Khankhel’s murder and assured Pakistani journalists of their support. In Islamabad, journalists, students, rights activists, NGOs and engineers joined hands to protest the killing of Khankhel.

Carrying black flags, banners and posters and wearing black arm bands, the protesters gathered near the National Press Club and marched to a market in the heart of the city. They also called for an immediate and impartial probe by an independent commission into the killing of the journalist.

In Lahore, protests were held outside the Punjab Assembly and journalists staged a walkout from the Assembly. PFUJ secretary general Mazhar Abbas said about 20 journalists had been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan during the past two years.

“Unfortunately, the journalists are being treated like terrorists while the terrorists are being given the status of respectable citizens. Since the government has not been able to protect journalists, it is now the prime responsibility of media houses to conduct an investigation into the killing of their journalists as they do investigative stories,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari announced compensation of Rs 500,000 for the family of Khankhel and instructed the North West Frontier Province government to nab his killers and take them to task.

(With inputs from agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

32 bullet wounds on slain Geo TV reporter

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