Director-General condemns killing of Pakistani TV journalist Sadiq Bacha Khan

Paris, 27 August

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today condemned the killing of journalist Sadiq Bacha Khan in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province on 14 August.

“I condemn the killing of Sadiq Bacha Khan,” declared the Director-General. “This crime is a blow to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. I urge the authorities to do everything in their power to put a stop to the killing of journalists, which has become particularly alarming in Northwest Frontier Province. I also wish to pay tribute to Sadiq Bacha Khan’s courage and commitment both to his profession and to helping the inhabitants of the region on which he reported.”

Sadiq Bacha Khan was shot dead on his way to work in the town centre of Madran where he was the correspondent of Aaj TV. He had previously been the President of the Press Club of Madran.

According to the International Press Institute, 11 journalists have been killed in Pakistan over the last two years, six of them in the Northwest Frontier Province.

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UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”

• Source:UNESCO Press Release No.95
• 28-08-2009