Jirga to resolve journalist's kidnapping proposed

The Paris-based organisation Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) have urged Pakistan's federal and local authorities to quickly identify who is responsible for the kidnapping of journalist Hayatullah Khan in Pakistan's north-eastern Tribal Areas, after Taleban militants assured his family they were not involved.
The two press freedom organisations also proposed that a meeting of elders (Jirga) be convened in an attempt to resolve Khan's kidnapping, which has come at a particularly tense time in the Tribal Areas adjoining Afghanistan.
"The inability of the Pakistani security forces to guarantee the safety of journalists in the Tribal Areas is undermining the bases of press freedom in this troubled region," said Reporters Sans Borders secretary-general Robert Menard and TUJ president Sailab Mahsud.
"If the authorities want to refute the rumours about the alleged involvement of the security forces in Khan's disappearance, they should move quickly to obtain his release and ensure that the dozens of reporters active in the Tribal Areas are able to work without problems," Menard and Mahsud added.
The two press freedom organisations also called for a complete investigation into the murder of Naseer Afridi, a correspondent for the newspaper "Khabrian" and the president of the local chapter of the TUJ in Darra Adamkhel.
"He was an efficient member of our Union and an honest journalist," said Sailab Mahsud.
A correspondent for the Urdu-language daily "Ausaf" and the English-language daily "Nation", and a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), Khan was kidnapped in his hometown of Mir Ali, in the North Waziristan part of the Tribal Areas, on 5 December 2005.
On 8 December, one of his brothers received a message from Taleban leaders in North Waziristan saying they had nothing to do with his abduction. A close associate of Khan at the same time told Reporters Sans Frontiers that the local authorities had made no arrests.
The Taleban denial came two days after Zaheerul Islam, the federal government's representative in North Waziristan, said "Taleban elements" appeared to have been behind the kidnapping.
Just a few of days before his abduction, Khan had investigated the reported death of Hamza Rabia, a leading Arab member of al Qaeda, taking photos that cast doubt on the official account of his death and indicated that he was in fact killed by a US-made missile.