Mirwais Jalil
Jalil was one of the key men responsible for covering the Afghanistan war for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). His war stories were considered to be highly credible by BBC viewers. Jalil was kidnapped and murdered by Mujahedeen groups who had been threatening him for a long time. Jalil was just 25 years old when he was murdered on July 29, 1994. Personal life For Mirwais, only 25, such prestige was a heady experience. He was a son of a medical practitioner, went to high school in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, then took an English language course in Pakistan, where his family moved to escape the fighting. After beginning work as a freelance journalist, his enthusiasm took him to the BBC. He was always happy to show visiting journalists around, though few were prepared to run as many risks as he did: returning from a perilous morning on Kabul's front line, Mirwais would propose going back in the afternoon. Career At the time of his death, Mirwais was working freelance for the BBC's Pashto and Persian services. He had been with the BBC for less than two years but was well cultured and involved with the reports from the frontline. He enjoyed being on the front lines in Kabul and would remain there even after others had retired for the day. The BBC has said that Mirwais was their top Afghanistan correspondent at the time of his death. Details about his death... Mirwais's life came to an end on July 29, 1994. Mirwais Jalil was returning from an interview with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Afghanistan's prime minister in 1994. Mirwais was travelling on a dirt road near Kabul with an Italian journalist, Ettore Mo from Corriere della Sera, when the Volkswagen was ambushed by a black sedan. According to the Independent, five half masked figures jumped out and grabbed Mirwais from the car he was travelling in. He was brutally pulled from his backseat position in the car, he was dragged against his will at gunpoint and put into the waiting black sedan. The black sedan fled at high speeds away from Ettore and Sharif who was the driver of Mirwais's car. Mirwais was the only passenger kidnapped. Those were the final moments anyone saw Mirwais alive. Jalil's body was discovered the following morning in Chelsitoon, on the outskirts of Kabul. He had been shot at least 20 times in the head and chest. Whole Context There was a civil war in full battle at the time of Mirwais's death. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was engulfed in a fierce battle with the Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani over Kabul and strategic positions that both forces wanted to occupy. Jalil had received threats during the year from several of Afghanistan's warring Mujahedeen factions. He had aggressively covered the country's internecine civil war for the BBC, and his reports were widely recognized as authoritative in Afghanistan. The BBC's unique position in Afghanistan means that it receives complaints and threats almost every day, and each side has blamed the other for Mirwais Jalil's murder. At the time of Mirwais's death in July, New York Times reported that "1.5 million Afghans had already lost their life in the war”.. The fighting was the fiercest in Kabul for a number of weeks. Final thoughts Mirwais Jalil was one of many journalists killed in Afghanistan in 1994. His vibrant, young personality helped getting reports from the front line of the raging war that might not have other wise been reported. He also managed to be one of the first journalists to interview Hekmatyar since the Battle of Laghman. Jalil was credited along with his fellow journalists, with giving the BBC a reputation for "objectivity" and is noted for performing a "vital job of informing his own and other people about the day to day realities of life and politics in Afghanistan." |