The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the murder of a journalist in Khuzdar and abduction of another in North Waziristan and called upon the authorities to take measures to address the threats to journalists’ safety and end impunity for violence against them.
In a statement, the Commission chairperson, Zohra Yusuf, said: “HRCP is alarmed at the murder of journalist Munir Shakir in Khuzdar, the fourth killing of a journalist in the district in the last 12 months. Equally disturbing is the abduction of another journalist, Rehmatullah Darpakhel, from Miranshah in North Waziristan on August 11.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson said the sharp rise in killings and other forms of violence against journalists is linked directly to the fact that in almost all cases in the last few years where journalists have been killed or attacked on account of their work the culprits remain unidentified and unpunished.
She urged the authorities to investigate Munir Shakir’s killing to identify and prosecute his killers, and take immediate steps to ensure the safe recovery of Rehmatullah. “The government must do all it can to make certain that Rehmatullah’s abduction does not end in an unfortunate manner as did Hayatullah Khan’s, another journalist from Waziristan who was abducted in December 2005 and whose bullet-riddled body was found six months later.”
It is disconcerting that findings of a probe into Hayatullah’s death by a judge of the high court are yet to be made public, she added.
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