Wali Khan Babar
| Wali Khan Babar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Wali Khan Babar 5 April 1982 |
| Died | 13 January 2011 (aged 28) Karachi, Pakistan |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Education | Masters in International Relations from the University of Karachi |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Employer | GEO News |
Wali Khan Babar (Urdu, Pashto: ولی خان بابر; 5 April 1982 – 13 January 2011) was a Pakistani journalist working for GEO News who was killed by gunmen in the Liaquatabad area of Karachi. His murderers Saulat Mirza and Faisal Mota (who are target killers of MQM) are sentenced to death by the court on March 10, 2015. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Babar was the first journalist it had confirmed killed in a work-related death in 2011. Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010. Despite the murders of several people associated with the investigation and the death of an accused, in March 2014 four people were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, and two others were given death sentences in absentia.
Babar briefly joined GEO English in 2007 before moving to the mainstream GEO News channel in 2008. He was active in the journalism field for four years.
Wali Khan Babar was an ex-provincial leader and lifelong worker of PSF (Pukhtun Student Federation).
From April 2011 till November 2012, various media outlets reported that all five eyewitnesses to the investigation of Babar's case had been murdered in cold blood one by one. The victims included two policemen, a brother of one police officer and an informer linked to developments in the case. All had been shot dead, mostly in drive-by shootings. The Last victim of the cold blooded had already identifies 4 out of 5 murderers of Wali Khan Babar and was called out and shot dead outside his home.
He was buried amid protests organised by the Balochistan Union of Journalists and Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party over his death. Journalists in other parts of the country also staged demonstrations, including outside the Karachi Press Club; in Peshawar, gatherings were organised outside the Peshawar Press Club and in Peshawar Cantonment. Scores of protesters expressed anger against the government for "shielding professional killers" and accused the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the killing, saying the party was perpetrating "ethnic cleansing of Pakhtuns, Baloch, Sindhis and the Punjabis" although MQM leader Altaf Hussain denounced the killing. In the meantime, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors termed Wali Khan as a "Martyr of Journalism." The Pashtun Awami National Party announced a three-day mourning period while the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) declared a black day during which black flags were hoisted above media centres, press clubs and journalist offices. In a related development, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called Babar's killing a "premeditated murder."
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