Over 150 media persons have been killed in Pakistan since the year 2000 outof which 53 lost their lives from 2012 to 2022, but the irony is thatperpetrators were punished in two cases only.link
The Pakistan Press Freedom Report has revealed that 96 per cent of suchcases in the last decade await justice. The criminal justice system hashopelessly failed to deliver on two accounts: either the FIR was notregistered or the police investigation was filled with lacunas, providing asafe exit to criminals.
The second day of November has been observed as the International Day toEnd Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (EICJ) for nearly a decade now.However, this year, the tragic death of renowned journalist Arshad Sharifhas drawn more attention to it and the journalists’ fraternity isreiterating the need for legislation of law for the protection ofjournalists.
Media practitioners in Pakistan are increasingly being threatened,harassed, intimidated, detained, physically attacked or even gunned downwhen they report on power abuse, corruption, human rights violations,criminal activities, terrorism, and fundamentalism.Advertisement
The violations and crimes have been thoroughly documented in the reportspublished by the media, non-governmental organisations, and human rightsdefenders. Sami Abraham, a senior journalist, has said that Pakistan hascontinuously oscillated between political and elite’s control to gag media.He said the media is hostage to certain interest groups and working under ahostile environment with some declared and undeclared restrictions.
He said that the PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority)instead of being a regulator is acting as a stooge of unknown powers.
Talking about increasing threats to journalists and forcing them tosilence, he said “As far as the protection for journalists is concerned, ifstate actors are involved in torture and harassment, how can one ensure thesafety of journalists”. He has a clear stance that ending impunity forcrimes against journalists is a prerequisite for ensuring freedom ofexpression.
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Another senior journalist Masoom Rizvi said the incidents of violenceagainst journalists take place all over the world, but the rate in Pakistanis alarmingly high. “Loopholes in laws and institutional preferences arefactors contributing to the problem”.
He is of the view that the division amongst the journalists’ fraternity hasled to a situation where it has lost its say, and the ones who raise voicesfor the rights of others, eventually lose their own and this is the reasonwhy journalists have to leave the country feeling unsafe in their homeland.Advertisement
Sharing a solution, he said an improvement would only be possible if allthe stakeholders join hands to fill the loopholes in the law.
Pakistan is ranked one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalistswith three to four murders each year often linked to cases of corruption orillegal trafficking. The country has a history of media suppression andviolence against journalists and has consistently been ranked, for the pastmany years, as one of the most dangerous countries to practice journalismby international media watchdogs. Notwithstanding the continuous alarms byinternational media watchdogs, threats to journalists’ lives and theincidents of violence against them have not been debated. According to theAnnual Pakistan Press Freedom Report 2022, at least 86 cases of attacks andviolations against media practitioners took place in Pakistan between May2021 and April 2022.
By: Quratalain Awan