17 June 2011
IFJ Mourns Death of Young Reporter in Pakistan
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply saddened to learn that a trainee journalist who was badly injured in a double-blast in Peshawar, Pakistan, on June 11 has died in hospital.
Shafiullah Khan, 28, died on the night of June 16 in a hospital at Wah Cantonment, near Rawalpindi, where he was being treated for severe burns.
He had joined The News International as a trainee reporter at its Peshawar office only a week before the attack, according to the Khyber Union of Journalists, an affiliate of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).
Shafiullah Khan is the sixth journalist reported killed in Pakistan in 2011 in relation to their work.
His colleague, Asfandyar Abid Naveed, of the daily Akhbar-i-Khyber, died in the same incident, when a suicide attack at the Khyber Super Market late on June 11 followed a low-intensity blast a few minutes earlier.
Shafiullah Khan was from Palangzai village near Miranshah, the headquarters of militancy-plagued North Waziristan Agency, and had recently completed a Masters in Journalism.
New to journalistic work, he joined others in rushing to the scene of the first minor blast just a few metres away from the newspaper’s office, and fell victim to the subsequent suicide attack.
More than 40 people died in the incident, while eight media personnel including Shafiullah Khan were among the more than 100 people injured. Most of those killed were reported to be young students.
“The IFJ extends its deepest sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of Shafiullah. Tragically, his eagerness to cover an important story came at too high a cost,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.
“The deaths of Shafiullah and Asfandyar Abid Naveed once again draw acute attention to the dire need for media outlets in Pakistan to provide education and training on safety measures for media personnel at all levels.”
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +61 2 9333 0919
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries
Find the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific
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Comments :
Asadullah
28 June 2011 at 11:59
A Pakistani man Owais Aslam Ali, chairman news agency Pakistan Press International, also running an NGO Pakistan Press Foundation has committed many fraudulent deals and convinced foreign orgs such as UNESCO to aid to 'train local rural journalists'. His strength is no competiotion no montitoring of his work locally. He has misreported news to international agencies such as IFEX and blamed Taliban directly when all the news reports stated were that they were miscreants. News claims from KPK of his acts in the last two decades, and so far there has been no investigation. If there wil be by niow the man has laundered enough money abroad and locally to save himself. he has claimed a personnel working against him and he works 'to protect journalists'. What his organization represents is a vicious circle and cycle. He is the nephew of a man who had started it for genuine reasons, but obviuosly did not inherit any honest genes. Is ther any kind of monitoring and action in reality against such who are in fact claiming to be supporting. What is fearfu;l is that if these are the men protecting journalists, then no wonder our sttaistics are so high.If this Owais Aslam Ali is in fact brought to trial, how many will be bothered to see its completion with the years the courts take. He will go on and many like him, to continue to harm in such discreet ways it will be impossible to actually pinpoint anything anymore. Owais Aslam Ali launders money to foreign accounts taking funds from international agencies. KPK Journalists Association
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