Nasrullah Khan Afridi

Incident Description: Explosive device on vehicle

On May 10, 2011, a correspondent for state-run Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), the English-language daily The Statesman and the Urdu-language Daily Mashriq in Khyber tribal agency, Nasrullah Khan Afridi, 38, was killed when an explosive device ripped through his vehicle in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The explosion occurred when Afridi came out of the offices of the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), where he was a regular visitor, and entered his car.

The device exploded, leaving behind a completely gutted vehicle and a crater in the road. The body of the deceased was burnt beyond recognition. A few other vehicles were damaged and window panes of nearby buildings were smashed. No one had claimed responsibility for the killing. Then Minister of Information of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said it was a case of a targeted attack and that militants have been killing journalists.

He said that the authorities’ war against militancy would continue and it was their resolve to eliminate militants as they were killing innocent citizens. Afridi had transferred from Khyber Agency to Hayatabad town in Peshawar along with his family a few years prior after receiving threats by a leader of the Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), a Bara-based militant organisation. On May 26, 2007, unidentified persons lobbed two hand grenades at Afridi’s house, damaging the boundary wall and veranda.

No one was injured in that incident. TUJ President Safdar Hayat had told PPF that militant organizations did not like Afridi because of his investigative reporting on militants in Pakistan’s Tribal region. Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) President Arshad Aziz Malik told PPF that Afridi was constantly threatened by militant organizations, including LeI and Ansarul Islam (AI). Afridi had been practicing journalism for 10 years and was president of the Bara Press Club.

He left behind three sons, three daughters and a widow. Then Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had ordered the authorities to launch an inquiry into the incident.

Afridi's son, Ehsanullah told PPF that there had been no progress in the case. No one was arrested nor had it been determined who was behind his father's murder.