MIRANSHAH: Pro-Taliban militants yesterday distributed leaflets blaming Pakistani authorities for the killing of a reporter who was investigating the death of a key Al Qaeda operative.
The Urdu-language pamphlets were circulated in Miranshah town in restive North Waziristan tribal agency, five days after the handcuffed body of journalist Hayatullah Khan, 35, was found in nearby Mir Ali.
“He was murdered by ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and the pro-US Pakistani military because he contradicted the stance taken by the military and published the photos of US missiles,” said the leaflet signed by Abu Rashid, who described himself as a leader of pro-Taliban militants.
Khan, who worked for for a local newspaper and the European Pressphoto Agency, was kidnapped by armed men on December 5, shortly after he challenged the military’s version of death of Egyptian Al Qaeda commander Hamza Rabia.
The Pakistani army had said Rabia was killed with four other people in an accidental munitions explosion but Khan took photographs of debris that was apparently from a US missile strike, also in December.
“We do not have time to keep someone for six months as we follow Islamic Sharia law and our actions are based on evidence and proof. We only take two to three days in executions,” the leaflet said.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified immediately. It described Rashid as the leader of the Taliban movement of Arab, Uzbek, Tajik and local mujahedin in North Waziristan.
Islamabad has previously strongly denied having any role in the incident.
The government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the killing, while journalists have held rallies across Pakistan to condemn the murder and to demand the arrest of Khan’s killers.
Militants have threatened and killed several tribal elders and others on the suspicion of spying for government and US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
