CPJ seeks information about Pak journalist
NEW YORK, April 29 2006: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the leaders of the US and Pakistan on Friday to investigate the disappearance of a Pakistani journalist, Hayatullah Khan, who was seized by unidentified gunman along the Afghan border on December 5.
In a letter to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Executive Director CPJ Ann Cooper said Khan was abducted soon after he photographed the purported remnants of a US-made Hellfire missile that he alleged killed a senior al-Qaeda figure from Egypt, Hamza Rabia, in Miranshah.
The pictures were an apparent contradiction of the Pakistani government’s explanation that Rabia died in a blast caused by explosives located within the house, and not from an aerial attack. The letter said the Khan family said they had been told by the Pakistani government sources that Hayatullah was in the US custody but the Pentagon and the FBI had told the CPJ that they were not holding Khan. “We are writing to US President George W Bush to seek clarification but, because of the uncertainty surrounding this case, it is also possible that Hayatullah Khan is being held in Pakistan.
The CPJ requested President Pervez Musharraf to order an immediate review of all Pakistani agencies, whether publicly known or unknown, to determine whether any has or has had Khan in custody. Any information gleaned in that investigation should be made available to Khan’s family.
Meanwhile, the CPJ executive director, in a similar letter sent to US President George W Bush asked him to order an immediate review of all US agencies, whether publicly known or unknown, to determine whether any has or has had Khan in custody. Any information gleaned in that investigation should be made available to Khan’s family, requested Ann Cooper.
Source: The News
Date:4/29/2006
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