June 20, 2025
Staff Report
LAHORE
The family of a slain journalist from Khyber district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has said that police have failed to make any progress in the investigation, even after the passage of an entire year.
Khalil Jibran was shot and killed on the night of June 17, 2024. He was working for the Pashto-language channel Khyber News and frequently reported on militancy-related issues. He was also the former president of the Landi Kotal Press Club.
According to a local journalist, Jibran was returning from Sultan Khel after attending an event when he was intercepted by militants in the Mazarina area.
An FIR was registered at the Landi Kotal police station under Sections 302 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Importantly, senior political leaders, including President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, have strongly condemned the killing and directed the police to arrest and prosecute those behind the “heinous crime.”
However, no suspect has been arrested so far, even after the passage of one year. Local journalists have expressed serious concern over the continued delay in investigating Jibran’s murder.
Speaking at a memorial event marking Jibran’s first death anniversary, journalists voiced frustration over the authorities’ failure to investigate the murder cases of 18 other tribal journalists killed over the past two decades.
They demanded foolproof security for journalists reporting from the merged districts.
Aimal Khan, Jibran’s cousin, told Voicepk that there had been no cooperation from the police. “The police showed no interest in the case. When we tried to meet the District Police Officer of Khyber, we weren’t even allowed to see him,” he said.
He added that Jibran had no enmity with anyone and was simply focused on doing his job. However, there had been a bomb attack on him two years before his death.
Aimal said that security forces conducted an operation a few weeks after the murder and claimed that the two militants responsible had been killed.
“However, we were never informed about the identity or background of the assailants, despite our repeated requests,” he said.
He further stated that the family continued to receive threats from unknown persons even after Jibran’s death, and there had been another bomb attack.
“After the attack, threats, and police inaction, Jibran’s family left the area and relocated to Islamabad for their safety.”
The District Police Officer of Khyber was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts.
However, a local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a militant group was behind the killing of Khalil Jibran and three policemen. He claimed that the perpetrators had been eliminated but declined to reveal their identities or the group they belonged to.
Journalists demand protective law
According to the Khyber Union of Journlist, over 50 journalists have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the former FATA areas, since 2001.
President of the Khyber Union of Journalists, Kashifuddin Syed, said there has been complete impunity in cases of violence against journalists, and no one has been convicted in connection with the killings.
According to a 2022 Freedom Network report on impunity in crimes against journalists in Pakistan, more than 150 journalists have been murdered since 2000, but courts have convicted the killers in only two cases.
Syed said a fresh version of the Journalist Protection Bill is being drafted after the earlier one got lost in the legislative process.
He urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to immediately pass and implement the Journalist Protection Bill so that the problems faced by Journalists can be resolved.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Journalist Protection Bill has remained stalled since it was introduced as a private member’s bill by PPP lawmaker Nighat Yasmin Orakzai in June 2021. Despite repeated assurances by the provincial government, the bill has yet to be tabled in the KP Assembly.