Slain journalist laid to rest in NWA; funeral largely attended
By: Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Senior journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan, who was gunned down by unidentified assailant in Miranshah in North Waziristan on Wednesday, was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard on Thursday.
A large number of tribal people had thronged his village in Miranshah from all over North Waziristan to attend his funeral prayers. They praised him for his bravery and honesty and for highlighting their problems in the media.
Many tribesmen could not control their emotions while having a last glimpse of Malik Mumtaz, whose coffin was kept in the vast graveyard for the funeral rites.The tribesmen paid him rich tributes and were heard saying that the man who used to highlight their sufferings had been silenced forever.
Former MNA from North Waziristan Maulana Nek Zaman said Malik Mumtaz was a true Muslim and honest and professional journalist. Talking to tribesmen after the funeral, he said Malik Mumtaz was killed by the enemies of North Waziristan as he always worked for restoration of peace and development in the tribal region.
The tribesmen said those who killed him had, in fact, orphaned the people of North Waziristan as he was their hope in times of trouble. “He was always accessible to the people. He never refused to help even those who knocked his doors at midnight,” one of his relatives Haji Usman Khan said while talking to The News on phone from Miranshah.
He opined that Malik Mumtaz was punished for his work to highlight hardships of the people in the media and exposing corrupt elements in the tribal region.Besides his relatives, tribesmen and the journalist community wondered who could have killed him when Pakistani security forces and Taliban groups operating in the tribal region had condemned his killing and eulogized him for his journalistic services.
Pakistan Army in a statement strongly condemned his killing and termed it an act of terrorism.A spokesman for the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Ihsanullah Ihsan said they were shocked on hearing about his death. He said they knew him for his brave and impartial reporting.
The shura of North Waziristan-based Taliban militants headed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur also condemned his killing and assured him family they would soon expose his killers.Malik Mumtaz was associated with The News International and Urdu daily Jang and also with Geo News as the North Waziristan correspondent.
On Tuesday he left his office in Miranshah and went to a nearby village along with a friend to offer condolences to a bereaved family. He dropped his friend, Subedar Khan, on the way and was driving towards his village when armed men arrived in a white car with tinted glasses and stopped Malik Mumtaz’s car near the Chashma Pul and opened fire on him.
He was immediately taken to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Miranshah but succumbed to his injuries on the way. “The attackers were well-trained as they came behind him with high speed, overtook his car and opened fire on him and then drove back towards Chashma Pul,” one of his relatives said while quoting a local tribesman present on the occasion.
Malik Mumtaz was known for his authentic and impartial reporting in North Waziristan.He had graduated from the Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan and was associated with journalism for the last 15 years.
He was recently elected as president of the Miranshah Press Club and was scheduled to take oath on Thursday. He belonged to a respectable family of Dawar tribe.Meanwhile, North Waziristan’s Political Agent Siraj Ahmad Khan also condemned his killing and lauded his journalistic services for the uplift of tribal region and welfare of the people.
The political agent announced Rs100,000 cash for his family and got edibles worth Rs55, 000 and including ghee, rice, sugar, etc delivered at his home on Thursday.
Source: The News
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