Abdul Aziz Shaheen

Incident Description: Abducted and killed in airstrike

On August 29, 2008, a journalist working for local dailies Daily Azadi and Khabarkar, Abdul Aziz Shaheen, was killed in an attack by jet fighters on a Taliban hideout where he was being held by the Taliban, in the Swat Valley. Shaheen had gone to the Peuchar area of Tehsil Matta of Swat to investigate who was responsible for setting his car on fire a week earlier.

As he was talking to local people, the local Taliban kidnapped him and imprisoned him in a private Taliban jail. A spokesman for the Taliban, Muslim Khan, told media that the compound where Shaheen was detained was attacked by a jet fighter and the journalist was among more than 20 people reportedly killed in the attack., Shaheen, 35, left behind a wife, three sons and a daughter.

He was buried on August 31. His colleagues had said Shaheen was a brave and bold journalist and the Taliban were angered by the many reports that he had written about their activities.

Haroon Siraj informed PPF that neither has the case been investigated nor has the family come to the forefront.