Tribute paid to fallen journalist on fifth death anniversary

MIRANSHAH: Glowing tributes were paid to senior tribal journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan on his 5th death anniversary observed in all the seven tribal regions and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Malik Mumtaz, 48, had been working for ‘The News International’, Urdu daily ‘Jang’ and Geo TV as correspondent in North Waziristan for 20 years. He also contributed to the Pashto language television channel AVT Khyber and News Network International (NNI).

He was the 13th journalist killed in the federally administered tribal areas (Fata) since 2002. He was returning home in Miranshah from a nearby village where he had gone to offer condolence on the death of a local when he came under attack on February 27, 2013.

Malik Mumtaz was widely respected for his brave and impartial reporting of the events in the volatile region. Also, his death was stated to be a message for the rest of journalists covering militancy, human rights issues and corruption and misuse of funds in Fata and KP.

The journalists in Miranshah and Mir Ali in North Waziristan and Bannu press clubs organised condolence references and offered fateha for the departed soul of the slain journalist.

The journalists praised Malik Mumtaz for his courage and independent journalism and using the media for highlighting civic issues of public interest. They said that Malik Mumtaz would always be remembered for his services to the people of North Waziristan.

Mohammad Irfan, son of the slain journalist, said that he was proud of his father’s services. He said Malik Mumtaz always highlighted plight of the people in the media that earned him many foes. He lamented that five years had passed since his father was killed but the government was yet to arrest his killers.

Irfan complained that former president Asif Ali Zardari had announced Rs1 million as compensation for his family but the pledge couldn’t be honoured.

Later when a senior PPP leader, Senator Farhatullah Babar, who was also a journalist, was approached about Asif Zardari’s announcement, Babar claimed he could not find any official document related to the package. “We were not given the Shaheed package extended to the heirs of tribespeople killed in the line of duty and acts of terrorism and related incidents,” his son complained.

When he was killed, eyewitness later told his family members that they had seen armed men arriving in a white car with tinted glasses, stopped Malik Mumtaz’s car near the Chashma Pul bridge and opened fire on him.

He was hit by bullets on the chest and was taken to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miranshah where he succumbed to his injuries. Some tribesmen who had taken him to the hospital said the gunmen shot him in the head and face with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The assailants had emptied a full magazine of Kalashnikov rifle on him as his head and face were badly damaged. He was elected president of the Miranshah Press Club but was killed before he could take oath of his office. Malik Mumtaz belonged to a respectable family of Dawar tribe. He had left behind a widow, two sons and a daughter.