VOA Reporter Killed In Pakistan, BBG Watch urges BBG to do more to take care of contract and overseas-based employees

BBG Watch reporters and contributors, many of us former and current Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) employees, are shocked and saddened by the killing in Pakistan of Mukarram Khan Aatif, a reporter for Voice of America’s Deewa Radio. This tragedy shows what great sacrifices Voice of America overseas-based contract employees make everyday. Mukarram Khan Aatif was a hero. He paid the ultimate price. We extend our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

BBG Watch hopes that the Broadcasting Board of Governors will be generous in extending proper assistance to Mukarram Khan Aatif’s family and that such assistance will be provided promptly.

Perhaps one lesson for the BBG from this tragedy will be a re-evaluation of how the Agency treats its overseas-based employees. They include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty employees who are foreign-born and are denied by the BBG the full protection of labor laws, as well as other contract employees who work for the Voice of America and the International Broadcasting Bureau and face unequal and unfair treatment.

Many of these employees risk their lives and their family members face reprisals from authoritarian regimes. We applaud efforts by BBG Governor Victor Ashe to address this issue. We hope that improvements in the treatment of overseas-based employees and all other contract employees will also include better protections against intimidation by foreign secret police and intelligence services and better protections against all other risks to their lives and safety.

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Voice of America Press Release

Washington, D.C., January 17, 2012 — Voice of America condemns the killing of one of its reporters in Northwest Pakistan’s lawless tribal region today and urges local authorities to do more to protect journalists.

Mukarram Khan Aatif, a reporter for VOA’s Deewa Radio, was taking part in evening prayers at a local mosque near his home in the town of Shabqadar when he was shot by unidentified gunmen. Mr. Aatif, who along with other Deewa journalists faced repeated threats from militants in the region, died of his wounds late Tuesday after being taken to a hospital in the city of Peshawar. A spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing.

VOA Director David Ensor paid tribute to Mr. Aatif, who was in his 40s and had been working for Deewa Radio since 2006. “Mr. Aatif risked his life on a daily basis to provide his audience with fair and balanced news from this critical region and we mourn the loss of our colleague. We call on authorities in Pakistan to do more to protect all journalists working there and bring his killers to justice,” Ensor said.

Walter Isaacson, the Chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, said, “On behalf of the entire Board of Governors, we condemn the murder of this courageous reporter in the strongest possible terms. The targeted assassination of Mr. Aatif is a tragic reminder of the dangers facing our journalists on a daily basis.”

Aatif’s VOA colleagues are mourning the loss of their co-worker, who also reported for local TV stations in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area, a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaida militants who are blamed for the deaths of more than two dozen journalists since 2004. Colleagues say Mr. Aatif had been threatened many times but continued to report on militant attacks, military operations, and social issues.

Witnesses say one of the attackers waited outside the mosque on a motorcycle while another masked gunman entered the building and fired several shots at Mr. Aatif, who was struck in the head. Journalists and colleagues from Pakistan’s tribal regions rushed to the hospital where he died.

In an interview with Deewa Radio, Selab Mehsud, a leading member of the Tribal Union of Journalists demanded the government investigate the killing and punish those responsible. For the past two years, Reporters Without Borders has named Pakistan as the world’s deadliest country for journalists.

VOA’s Pashto language Deewa Radio, which recently began broadcasting on satellite television, is one of the leading sources of news in Northwest Pakistan’s tribal area.

For more information about this release contact Kyle King at VOA Public Relations in Washington at kking@voanews.com. For more information about any of VOA’s programs visit our main website at www.voanews.com. An online version of this release with a photo is available at www.insidevoa.com.

The Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.  VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 141 million people.  Programs are produced in 43 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.

For more information, please call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail us at askvoa@voanews.com. Follow us on Twitter @VOABuzz and Facebook at InsideVOA.

The Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.  VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 141 million people.  Programs are produced in 43 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.

For more information, please call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail us at askvoa@voanews.com. Follow us on Twitter @VOABuzz and Facebook at InsideVOA.

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