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Journalists across Pakistan protest reporter’s killing

by Sanjay Jha | February 19, 2009 at 02:50 am

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There is a news of another assault on media in Pakistan. As hundreds of media people are protesting the killing of Geo TV reporter in SWAT VALLEY the news came that the building of Wana press club was blown up by Taliban.

An official of the political administration said that some people had come in two cars early in the morning, planted explosives in the building and a few moments later there was a huge blast and the double-storey building was reduced to rubble.

Hundreds of journalists protested across northwest Pakistan on Thursday to condemn the killing of a television reporter who was covering a peace mission led by a pro-Taliban cleric.

Unknown gunmen shot dead 28-year-old Musa Khan Khel on Wednesday near the town of Matta in the troubled Swat valley, where militants have waged a nearly-two year campaign to enforce sharia law.

The killing triggered a wave of anger among journalists across Pakistan.

Khel, as Swat correspondent for private Geo TV, was reporting on a march held by the leader of the sharia movement after he secured a controversial deal with the Pakistan government to impose strict Islamic law in the area.

Hamid Mir, one of Khel's colleagues, told a gathering of mourners in Swat that Khel's body was riddled with 32 bullet wounds.

More than 500 journalists, members of civil society and lawyers marched from the press club to the governor's house in the main northwest city of Peshawar, asking the government to protect media personnel, an AFP correspondent said.

'We want justice!,' 'we want Musa Khan Khel's killers arrested!' and 'we salute Musa Khan Khel's courage!' shouted the protestors outside the governor's house, wearing black bands on their arms and foreheads.

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Roy C

at 06:22 on February 19th, 2009

There are those here who will not accept that this behavior of the Taliban is sanctioned and encouraged by the Koran.

All orthodoxies have a dark side. Just ask me about what I think of the Vatican, standard atheism, rationalism, and you will hear a description of dysfunctionality, but the Vatican, American atheists, and so on do not go around now doing such acts as blowing up statues of the Buddha nor do they blow up the press building.

Yes, Marxist atheists have been hostile to the practice of Freedom of Speech, Press, etc. Soft Marxists have taken their place. Their censorship is subtle.