Violence against journalists
For the past several years the International Federation of Journalists ranks Pakistan among the five “most dangerous countries for practice of journalism in the world”, but to little effect. As a report unveiled by the Freedom Network (FN), a Pakistan-based media watchdog, to mark the 10th anniversary — falling on November 2 — of the ‘UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity’ points out, some 53 journalists were killed during the last decade, with on average of five lives lost each year. The conditions under which prominent journalist Arshad Sharif had to leave the country, and was killed in Kenya is yet another appalling example of the dangers media practitioners face in this country. Apart from fatal attacks, there are several cases of intimidation, beatings, kidnappings, and custodial torture.
According to the FN report, in 96 percent of the cases the killers remained unpunished due to weak investigation, police failure to produce challans, and poor quality of prosecution. A vast majority of the cases fall through the trial process in courts. In all of the 56 cases just 12 reached conclusion, while only two accused were convicted. Commission of these horrendous crimes has gone with impunity because aside from militant gangs, the perpetrators are either locally influential persons, officials of political parties or certain other functionaries. Although the report says in most of the cases the target journalists did not seem to have informed their employers, press clubs or local authorities about receiving life threats, even where they did the result was not different. A highly tragic illustration of that is the 2020 case of Aziz Memon who worked for the Sindhi TV channel, KTN News, and Sindhi language Kawish newspaper. He had posted a video on social media, begging the leadership of a major political party to save his life, saying he was being threatened by a local official of the party and the police for writing a critical report on an important political event. A few days later, he was found strangled to death in an irrigation ditch.
Their track record notwithstanding, all major political parties claim to be defenders and upholders of media freedoms. Yet they tend to look the other way when journalists are killed or subjected to violence. As stakeholders in the democratic system, of which freedom of expression is a core value, they need to play an effective role in bringing to justice the killers and tormenters of media persons, whether doing work favourable or unfavorable to them. A greater responsibility in this respect falls on the shoulders of various media organizations. They must come forward to ensure that the criminal justice system delivers every step of the way, from investigations, filing of challans to a strong prosecution.
Source: Business Recorder
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