Shafiullah Khan, a young journalist who was badly wounded in a double bombing on June 11 in Peshawar, died June 21 morning from his injuries in a military hospital in Wah, a garrison town northwest of Islamabad, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
The double bombing at Khyber Market, in a military area of Peshawar, left a toll of at least 40 dead and 100 wounded. Another journalist, Abid Naveed, was among those killed outright by the blast while eight other reporters were among the wounded. Khan, who was from Palangzai, a village in North Waziristan, had recently completely a master’s degree in journalism at Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan.
Yousaf Ali, the secretary-general of the Khyber Union of Journalists, described the tragic circumstances of his death to RSF. “Shafiullah wanted to pursue a career in the media. He had just joined News International’s Peshawar bureau as a trainee. He had started just a week ago.”
The site of the June 11 bombings is just a few metres from the News International office. After the first bomb went off, Khan rushed to the scene to cover the story and was badly burned by the second, more powerful bomb. He was taken to a burns unit in Wah Cant hospital for treatment.
“We reiterate our support for journalists who are the victims of terrorist attacks in Pakistan,” RSF said. “We hope the Pakistani authorities will respond without further delay to the media community’s request for the restoration of security conditions that allow its members to work normally.
“If the prime minister was capable of reacting quickly by appointing a supreme court judge to carry out an exhaustive investigation into Saleem Shahzad’s death, he should be able to do the same for the Peshawar bombings. Steps must also be taken promptly to provide financial compensation, above all for medical bills and material losses.”
