Malik Mumtaz Khan’s assassins still at large

PESHAWAR: The government and law-enforcement agencies failed to bring to justice the assassins of senior tribal journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan who was killed two years ago in Miranshah in North Waziristan.
Malik Mumtaz Khan was widely respected for his honest, impartial and brave reporting from his native North Waziristan tribal region.
He worked for The News, Urdu daily Jang and Geo Television. Irrespective of other tribal reporters, he would always highlight civic issues and problems of the tribespeople in the media and that’s why government and security officials never liked him.
The political administration and security agencies always wanted the journalists to become their mouthpiece and never criticise them. Malik Mumtaz belonged to a comparatively well-off family in Miranshah village and never compromised on his principles.
He never restricted his journalism to bomb explosions and drone attacks.
He would always highlight local issues in the media such as health, education, electricity, telephones, roads, drinking water, corruption of the political administration in development projects and human rights violation in the name of military operation.Malik Mumtaz was known for his authentic and impartial reporting. He had graduated from the Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan and remained associated with journalism for 15 years.
He belonged to a respectable family of Dawar tribe.On February 27, 2013, he left his office in Miranshah bazaar and went to a nearby village along with a friend to offer condolences to a bereaved family.
On the way back, he dropped his friend, Subedar Khan, and was driving towards his village when armed men arrived in a white car with tinted glasses and stopped Malik Mumtaz’s car on the main road near the Chashma Pul.
They immediately opened fire on him and shot him dead.Local people later took him to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miranshah, but he had already succumbed to his injuries.
Eyewitnesses later informed his family that the attackers seemed very well-trained as they chased him in a car with high speed, overtook his car and then opened fire on him and then drove back towards Chashma Pul.
Malik Mumtaz and his family had no enmity.He had devoted himself to the services of the tribespeople and that’s why they thronged to his village when came to know about this tragic incident.Some tribal elders had stated on that occasion that the voice used to highlight their problems had been silenced forever.
Paying tributes to him for his honest and professional journalism, ex-MNA from North Waziristan Maulana Nek Zaman had stated that those who killed Malik Mumtaz were in fact the enemies of North Waziristan, as he used media for bringing peace and development in the tribal region.
Malik Mumtaz had made himself accessible to the local people. They would call him for resolving their personal disputes and problems as if he was an elected representative of the area.
It had disturbed his personal life but he would tell his friends and colleagues that if he doesn’t help the poor tribespeople who other else would come to do it.
One of his relatives Haji Usman Khan recalled that Malik Mumtaz never refused to help even those who knocked at his doors at midnight.
Many tribespeople in North Waziristan believed that Malik Mumtaz was punished for raising genuine people’s issues in the media and exposing the corrupt elements in the tribal region.
Perhaps he is among the few journalists that nobody took responsibility for his murder.Military authorities as well the Taliban groups in North Waziristan at that time had condemned Malik Mumtaz’s murder and praised his journalistic work.
The Pakistan Army had even issued a statement strongly condemning his killing and termed it an act of terrorism.Besides the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the shura of North Waziristan-based Taliban militants led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur had also condemned the killing.
They had even assured his family that they would soon expose his killers, but it didn’t happen. Two years after the tragic murder, his killers are still at large.
His family, relatives and journalist colleagues on Friday observed second death anniversary of the late journalist. Quran Khwani was held at the press clubs in Bannu, Tank, and other places and special prayers were offered.