Pakistani journalists are paying a heavy price for having the freedom to express in the country as five of them have already been killed this year while performing their duties.
On January 10, several bombings took place in Quetta and Swat that left 130 people dead and 270 injured. Three journalists were killed while two were seriously injured in these attacks. Those killed, Imran Sheikh and Saifur Rehman were from SAMAA and Iqbal Hussain was working for News Network International (NNI). Jameel Ahmed from SAMAA and Mohammad Hassan from Independent News Pakistan were critically injured.
Malik Mumtaz got killed in Miran Shah in February 27 while performing his duty for the Geo TV and the New International. The fifth journalist who paid the price for the freedom of expression was Mehmood Jan Afridi. While working for the Daily Intikhab, Afridi was killed in Kalat on March 1.
Senior journalist Aslam Durrani (55) got killed in a rally of the Awami National Party on April 16. Durrani was the news editor for the Daily Pakistan.
While facing the conundrum of terrorism and extremist, Pakistani journalists are also celebrating the World Press Freedom Day today. The tradition was put in practice in 1993 and since then the World Press Freedom Day is being celebrated on this day across the globe.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) selected the theme for this year “Safe to speak: Securing freedom of express in all media” with the aim of highlighting the need for safety of journalists fighting impunity for crimes against freedom of expression. But in Pakistan violations against freedom of expression are done with impunity without the government or law enforcement agencies ever taking serious note of it.
Pakistan was ranked the “most dangerous country” for journalists in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Security for journalists and their families did not improve much in 2012. Fourteen journalists got killed in the line of duty in 2012. Those killed include Saqib Khan, Abdul Haq Baloch, Syed Tariq Hussain, Rehmatullah Abid, Mushtaq Khan, Aslam Raja, Abdul Qadir Hajizai, Razzaq Gul, Mukarram Khan Atif, Muhammad Amir, Tariq Kamal, Jamshed Kharal, Irfan Malik, and Murtaza Rizvi.
Not only are the journalists at risk, their families are also at fear of being targeted due to their relation with a journalist. In October 2012, two sons of the Khuzdar Press Club’ president were shot dead.
Killing, kidnapping, torturing, and threatening journalists and their families are the common practices to curb freedom of expression. Apart from this, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority banned Youtube to block access to blasphemous content. The measure, however, curtailed people’s freedom to access information.
As the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day suggests, the Pakistan government should take measures for the safety of journalists and ensure freedom of expression in the country.