Pakistani journalists are being forced to flee or go into hiding to escape acts of violence and intimidation that usually go unpunished, Reporters Without Borders, an international media group, said in its recent report.
The outfit has complained that Pakistani authorities have not kept their promise to protect media personnel and are sometimes even responsible for these abuses. The report notes that the shooting of Baloch journalist Zafarullah Jatak in June is the latest in a series of “macabre murders” of media personnel that are not being solved.
Jatak worked for Intekhab; an Urdu-language newspaper based in Quetta, and had been a journalist for the past six years.
He was gunned down in his home in the early hours of June 28. The police have made eight arrests but have yet to establish the motive.
The report points out that no progress has been made in the investigation into the murder of journalism professor (and former journalist) Syed Wahidur Rahman, who was gunned down in his car outside Karachi university on April 29, four days after media and human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud was gunned down in Karachi immediately after organising a discussion about the violence in Balochistan. Mahmud’s murder has also gone unpunished.
“The Pakistani authorities must end the impunity for the only too frequent physical attacks on journalists,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk.
The fact that crimes of violence against journalists are rarely solved and punished just reinforces a climate dominated by death threats and physical attacks, says the report.
The report points out that there has also been a marked increase since 2014 in media freedom violations by government officials and various political factions.
This disturbing trend constitutes a major impediment to attempts to combat impunity and sustains a climate that does not encourage media freedom.
The report notes that the Pakistani government continues to bring indirect pressure on the media.
On May 13, the Pakistan Press Council sent a directive to the print media saying “acute care should be taken to avoid negative comments” about the crisis in Yemen in order not to threaten Pakistan’s friendship with the countries that are members of the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen.
