Update: Pakistani journalist shot dead by security forces in restive valley

PESHAWAR: Security forces shot dead a local journalist in Mingora city of Swat valley late Saturday night when he was on his way back from a local hospital.

Qari Muhammad Shoaib, a correspondent of two Mingora-based dailies, was shot in the back of the head at Green Square despite the fact that there was no curfew. The single bullet piercing his head proved fatal and he died instantly.

“His daughter underwent appendicectomy at Al-Shifa Hospital and we were fired at while returning from there. I asked him to stop the car and as he stopped, his head dropped on the steering wheel and started bleeding. He was dead then and there,” Shoaib’s cousin Shah Hussain told ‘The News’ by phone from Mingora hours after the incident. Hussain and a minor daughter of the journalist onboard the same car escaped unhurt.

Military officials told a group of journalists that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding, and that he was shot at mistakenly. A press release issued by the ISPR claimed to have received information about the entry of a suspected suicide bomber. The army soldiers and police, it added, were jointly patrolling the city to ward off any such attack and flagged down a ‘suspected car’ but it didn’t stop.

The ISPR said that upon ignoring the signal, warning shots were fired but even then the car didn’t stop, prompting the security forces to open fire, resulting in the killing of Muhammad Shoaib, photographer of a local newspaper.

The forces, the press release said, regretted the incident and expressed heartfelt sympathies with the bereaved family besides offering condolence. It said that a sum of Rs100,000 was immediately given to the family, while another Rs100,000 would be handed over Monday (today).

“The killing of Shoaib is a great loss. He was a nice and gentle person,” the editor-in-chief of Azadi, Mumtaz Ahmad Sadiq, told ‘The News’ via telephone from Mingora. Shoaib was hailing from Osho village of the picturesque Kalam valley but had settled in Mingora. The 30-year-old journalist was working with the two local papers for the last eight years. He was the only breadwinner for his family as his parents had died. He is survived by two widows, two daughters, a son and two dependent younger brothers. He was laid to rest in his native Osho village on Sunday amid moving scenes.

Shoaib was the third journalist who lost his life in continued violence in the valley. Earlier, Siraj was killed in a deadly suicide blast at the funeral of a slain DSP in Mingora on February 29, while another journalist, Abdul Aziz, died in bombardment.

Condemning the killing, the Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) announced to hold a protest demonstration on Monday (today). Also, journalists would launch a countrywide protest against the incident on November 12.

KhUJ General Secretary Khalid Kheshgi demanded the soldier involved in the killing should be court martialled and the family of the slain journalist be given all facilities usually provided to the family of a martyred army soldiers. He asked the administration and military to announce proper compensation for the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, sharply reacting to the killing of their colleague, journalists in Mingora staged a protest demonstration and announced three-day mourning. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Mazhar Abbas and Peshawar Press Club President Muhammad Riaz also addressed the meeting and announced to stage a protest on November 12.

The local journalists demanded an impartial inquiry into the killing. Swat journalists said the entire community was feeling vulnerable, as they had no security. Holding placards and banners, the protesting journalists marched up to the Circuit House, where the army has established its headquarters for the Swat operation. A four-member committee comprising Mumtaz Ahmad Shahid, Ghulam Farooq, Ghafoor Khan Adil and Rashid Iqbal met Brigadier Haroon. The military officer assured the journalists of a probe into the incident and all possible assistance to the family of the deceased.