ISLAMABAD, 18 June 2006 — Journalists boycotted the coverage of National Assembly’s proceedings and marched on a main road where the offices of the prime minister and president are located to condemn the killing of a colleague who disappeared after reporting the killing of an Al-Qaeda operative in a US strike.
Chanting slogans “Killer, killer, government killer!,” they demanded an impartial investigation into the death of Hayatullah Khan, who was kidnapped and killed in a conservative tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
They protesting journalists said they intended to observe “black day” tomorrow to protest the killing. They called for a fact-finding mission comprising newsmen, parliamentarians and government officials to be send to North Waziristan to investigate Khan’s murder.
Expressing solidarity with the journalists, MPs representing mainstream opposition parties also joined the demonstration.
“What type of democracy and freedom of press in this,” a leading opposition MP Sherry Rehman said in reference to Khan’s killing.
Secretary General MMA Hafiz Hussein Ahmad also joined Rehman in condemning the killing, saying that Khan died because he refused to “become an instrument in the hands of the establishment.”
The protest came hours before Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said that Khan’s killing was a “dastardly act” and promised to take stern action against those responsible for it. Yesterday, he met with the protesting journalists and assured them that no intelligence agency was behind the kidnapping or slaying of Khan, and rather claimed that they had tried hard to recover him alive. Hundreds of people attended Khan’s funeral yesterday in Mir Ali, from where he was abducted on Dec. 5.
