Posts Tagged ‘CPJ’

Threats to Journalists: When Will the Court Take Notice?

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

gunFor the second year in a row, Pakistan has been awarded the dubious title of ‘deadliest nation for journalists’ according to the international organization Committee to Protect Journalists. The most shocking event, obviously, was the brutal murder of Saleem Shahzad, a case that has followed the usual path to a dusty shelf where it will remain unsolved. But Saleem Shahzad was not the only journalist to lose his life in Pakistan. At least six other journalists were killed here – more than both Libya and Iraq. There are countless others who continue their work under constant threat. When will the court take notice?

Actually, the judiciary and journalism share some common traits. Both are intended to be a search for truth – a careful investigation of facts intended to help steer the nation on the right path. At times the work of journalists and judges overlaps as with the recent example of the ‘memogate’ controversy that grew from the claims made in an op-ed that were further publicised by additional news articles. Long before the Supreme Court took notice of the memo, it was a media story.

The most recent development of the memogate saga occurred recently when a British newspaper reported that one overlooked item from Mansoor Ijaz’s claims was that DG ISI Gen Pasha was secretly meeting with Arab leaders in preparation for a coup against the civilian government. ISPR has denied Mansoor Ijaz’s claim, terming the Independent piece “a baseless article”.

While an official denial is to be expected, Geo anchor Hamid Mir who reported on Mansoor Ijaz’s accusation against Gen Pasha reports that he has received death threats for reporting the story.

Dear Friends,

I would like to inform you that I received an SMS message at my blackberry today at 11:47 pm which said “i have not seen a real bastard than you. i wish somebody comes and strip you naked. i hope some Army man has not done real dirty with your dear ones.” This SMS was reaction of my show Capital Talk which was going on at that time on Geo TV in a repeat telecast.

I responded to this SMS and I got another message from the same number again (03335245252). Within few seconds another SMS from 03318175319 declared me a CIA, RAW and MOSSAD agent. I have received these kinds of threatening messages usually from intelligence agencies in the past. When I responded these messages quickly and told them to go court against me they were silent.

These recent threats are related to two recent shows on Geo TV. I discussed a story in The Independent in the UK reported by Omar Warraich on December 14th and raised questions about the political role of DG ISI [Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate Ahmad Shuja Pasha]. A constitutional petition was filed by [Community Party Chairman] Engineer Jamil Malik on December 19th in the Supreme Court of Pakistan [asking the court to remove Gen. Pasha] and I was included in the petition as one of the respondents. I came to know about this petition in the evening of December 19th. The same evening I discussed the press conference of Baloch leader Attaullah Mengal on my TV show. Mengal criticized Pakistan Army atrocities against Balochis. This show was aired in the evening of December 19th and repeated in the morning of December 20th between 11 and 12.

I am sure that security establishment of Pakistan is once again angry with all those who will raise questions about the political role of Army. If anything bad happens with me or my “dear ones” the security establishment will be responsible.

Hamid Mir

As Pakistan holds the dubious distinction of being ‘deadliest nation for journalists’ two years running, these threats should raise the interest of the Chief Justice as a matter of national interest. But in this most recent case, the issue should be of special interest to the court. The memo case is presently sub judice, which means that any threat against journalists reporting on the case are meant not only to influence journalists, but the outcome of a case also.

Media cannot be considered as independent if it is operating with a gun to its head. Neither can a judiciary be independent if any element is allowed to use threats of violence and death to influence the outcome of a case. How long must Pakistani journalists search for the truth without the protection of the court? And how long will the court allow its own independence to be questioned by ignoring this issue?

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Wali Khan Baber Killed

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Wali Khan BaberWali Khan Baber has been killed according to news reports. The Geo TV reporter was covering operation against drug-traffickers in Pehalwan Goth.

Baber’s death comes only a few weeks after International NGO Committee to Protect Journalists terms Pakistan ‘deadliest nation‘.

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24/7 News Cycle Bad For Journalism, Deadly For Journalists

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Pakistan journalists danger

By now it’s fairly well accepted that the 24/7 news cycle and the competition that comes with it is problematic for the state of journalism. The most embarrassing result, of course, being the fake WikiLeaks story that wound up on the front page of several reputable newspapers (and continued to be published in some less reputable ones). But the race for to be the first group with the most sensational headlines is not only bad for journalism, it turns out that it’s bad for journalists, too – and by ‘bad’ I mean deadly.

A new report from Committee to Protect Journalists found that Pakistan earned the dubious distinction of being the deadliest nation for journalists in 2010, beating out Iraq and Mexico. In all, eight journalists were killed while doing their job this past year. And the CPJ report does not include incidents in which journalists were shot at or issued death threats such as Kamran Shafi received in 2009.

Nafees Takar, the chief of Voice Of America’s Pashto-language Deewa service, says that part of the problem is the pressure to be the first to deliver on-the-scene reports from dangerous areas.

“Most of the time, when one media outlet in Pakistan uses a report, for example, on [U.S. missile] drone attacks, another media outlet will also be forcing the reporting in the region and will be expecting from their reporter a story which might be better than other one, with the soundbites of the people, and maybe the outlet will also be expecting that he or she should get some pictures of the area which has been hit by the missle attack. And that makes trouble for them in the sense that nobody can go to those areas. And if a journalist tries to go there, they are sure for inviting trouble for themselves.”

As we enter the new year, let’s pray that our journalists are safe from harm. Let us also ask the media groups, the publishers, the editors, and ourselves the consumers to have some patience and not put unreasonable demands on the men and women reporting the news. Already journalism can be a thankless and difficult job. But please, no one should have to put their life in danger just to get a headline ten minutes before the next guy.

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Pakistani Journalist Kamran Shafi Threatened, Shot At

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Pakistani Journalist and Military Veteran Kamran Shafi

Pakistani Journalist and Military Veteran Kamran Shafi

In more evidence of the growing threat to free media in Pakistan, veteran journalist Kamran Shafi’s house was strafed with gunfire over the weekend.

The shooting comes after repeated threats to Mr. Shafi’s life by telephone and warnings to him not to continue writing about security in Pakistan.

Police report that they have made no headway in identifying the shooters or those threatening Mr. Shafi. The woman caller, according to Mr. Shafi, spoke in broken Urdu.

Most troubling about this attack is that, when the shooter let loose a hail of bullets on Mr. Shafi’s home, he was celebrating Eid holiday with his wife and daughter who could have been killed in the attack. This demonstrates that not only are these killers intending to silence free and open media discussion in Pakistan, they are willing to commit the most devious of murders to get their way.

In addition to the obvious threats to the journalist and freedom of the media in Pakistan, this incident has not gone unnoticed in the international media and serves as an embarrassment for Pakistan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which has already condemned Pakistani newspaper The Nation for endangering the life of an American journalist, wrote that this is evidence of Pakistan’s media environment deteriorating:

“CPJ condemns this attack on such a prominent Pakistani journalist,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “Pakistan’s media environment is declining rapidly as a consequence of the political and military strife erupting under the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. Local and foreign journalists are coming under threat from all sides to the country’s many conflicts. Increasingly, Pakistan’s free press is under a threat almost as menacing as that under former president Pervez Musharraf ,” added Dietz.

I have written before about how threatening journalists threatens press freedom. Then, I was writing about Ahmed Quraishi’s dismissal of concerns about the safety of American journalist Matthew Rosenberg. But as the attempted murder of Kamran Shafi clearly proves, it is not just American journalists whose lives are increasingly in danger.

A free and unbiased media is the cornerstone to a healthy and stable democracy. By threatening journalists, the people involved in this incident have proven themselves to be enemies of our democracy. By using violence to try to intimidate and threaten innocent people, they have proven themselves to be nothing but terrorists.

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