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Wali Khan Babar ( April 5, 1982 – January 13, 2011) was a Pakistani journalist working for GEO News who was killed by MQM-A gunmen in the Liaquatabad area of Karachi. 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.
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.
According to various press reports, Babar was on his way back home from office on the 13th of January, 2011, when he was intercepted by unidentified armed men who upon recognising him, opened gunfire towards his car killing him on the spot. He was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His body received five bullets from the attack, including two in the forehead, one in the jaw and the other two in the neck. The assault was thought to be a part of the numerous politically-motivated target killings which have gripped the city in recent months.
It is said that Babar spoke of social issues in many of his reports and just before he was killed, he had covered an operation against drug traffickers in the city's Pehalwan Goth neighborhood.
In April 2011, various media outlets reported that four people linked to the investigation of Babar's case had been murdered in cold blood. 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.[4] The perpetrators remained unknown.
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 centers, press clubs and journalist offices. In a related development, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called Babar's killing a "premeditated murder."
The killing was condemned by President
Asif Ali Zardari, interior minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan Muslim League (N) leadersChaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. In a separate statement, former cricketer and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafchairman Imran Khan expressed his condolences and questioned the government's seriousness over addressing target killings. The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ordered a judicial inquiry following the news. An FIR was accordingly filed by the police to investigate the murder. A special segment was presented on his killing in Hamid Mir's current affairs program Capital Talk.
On World Press Freedom Day, 2011, participants of a forum at the National Press Club and Newseum in Washington, D.C., called attention to world governments who licensed in order to punish news organizations that were critical of the government, as was the case for Pakistan that had used licensing to punish Geo News, for which Wali Khan had worked.
Wali Khan was an ethnic Pashtun belonging to the Babar tribe. He hailed from the town of Zhob in Balochistan and was a vocal critic of the state's policies pertaining to the Balochistan conflict. He held a Masters' degree in international relations from the University of Karachi.
Before his death, he resided in Karachi's North Nazimabad suburb.
He left behind a widow mother, three sisters and four brothers.
His body was buried in Zhob, his hometown.
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