In the third criminal complaint registered against a journalist in the last few days, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against journalist Asad Ali Toor on September 12 for “posting negative propaganda against the state, Pakistani institutions and the Pakistan Army on his social media account,” Dawn reported.

On September 9, a case was registered against Express Tribune News Editor Bilal Farooqi in Karachi and on September 11, a criminal complaint was
registered against former Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman Absar Alam in Jhelum.

The FIR against Toor was registered under Sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the PPC and Sections 37 (unlawful online content), 20 (offences against dignity of a natural person) and 11 (hate speech) of PECA.

The case has been registered by a resident of Rawalpindi, Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed who alleged that the journalist had “used derogatory language for high-level government institutions, including the Pakistan Army which is a grave crime according to the law”.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has also condemned the registration of the case against Toor and said: “The alarming increase in such actions against journalists confirms that the government is bent on muzzling freedom of expression.” HRCP demanded that the rights of citizens be respected and “both the government and state adopt course correction”.

Toor has been granted week-long protective bail by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah and he was ordered to approach the relevant court within a week.

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) is concerned with the confiscation of the book by Warriach. Tactics such as seizing copies of a prominent journalist’s book act as a tool of intimidating the media and further leading to a limiting of press freedom and free expression in the country.

The development comes amidst a crackdown on Pakistani journalists. In the past few days, three journalists have had criminal complaints lodged against them for allegedly posting anti-state content on social media.

Speaking to BBC Urdu, Warraich said that the content of the book is previously published columns. He said that he found that “some circles” have objected to the book’s title page. “Yesterday, I was also contacted and told that the cartoon on the title page undermines the dignity of the prime minister,” he said.

Warraich said that he did not think that there was anything objectionable in the cartoon on the title page of the book. He said that cartoons are made in a “light mood” and they are always seen in a “light manner”. “But despite this, late at night, on the insistence of a lot of my friends and groups, we removed it from Twitter.” He added that they will change the title page of the book.

The controversial book cover features a cartoon showing Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa sitting on a chair and Prime Minister Imran Khan playing on the floor besides him with a ball and a doll. On one side of the cover, leading opposition leaders — former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz —peering in from the window.

Orakzai had been working as a journalist for about three decades. He was also a social worker in the area and played an active role in highlighting local problems. He reported daily Jinnah in Islamabad and daily Mashriq in Peshawar.

On the morning of the incident, Orakzai was entering the press club when three unknown men opened fire on him. The assailants escaped the scene without being challenged by police.

The journalist received one bullet in his heart. He was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Hangu where he succumbed to his injuries.

A criminal complaint was registered against the unidentified armed men. Early reports said that no one had claimed responsibility, however, soon after reports stated that the Tehreek-e-Taliban claimed responsibility.

Press reports at the time said that Orakzai may have been assassinated for publishing news stories about militants’ activities, adding that he had received threats from militants after reporting on their activities.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had reported that the Taliban had claimed the murder and Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had said: “We killed him because he twisted the facts. He had leaning towards the army in what he wrote (…) There will be other attacks against those who speak out against the Taliban. They are part of our targets.”

Orakzai’s son, Umer Farooq, said his father had been receiving threats for quite some time through phone calls and his office had been attacked three times.

A decade later, speaking to Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), current Hangu Press Club President, Zahid, one of Orakzai’s son, told PPF that the Tehreek-e-Taliban had claimed responsibility for his father’s murder, adding that Ehsan had accepted it. Zahid said that the Taliban were angry that Orakzai was highlighting their activities and writing stories on them. He added that the Taliban had threatened them two to three times while visiting the Hangu Press Club. He said that they had fixed a bomb in their house in 2009 and had also kidnapped him.

Zahid said that there were many protests and this resulted in pressure on the Hangu police. He claimed that as a result, they had arrested a drug addict and pressurized them to accept him as Orakzai’s murderer. However, he said that they believed he had not attempted the murder.

Hangu Police Station Head Muharar Mr Shashoola said that the case had been closed and added that all four accused had been granted bail from a Civil Additional Court.

He was speaking to roundtable dialogue on “Dynamics of the Middle East crisis” at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs.

Jabbar said that Saudia Arabia has made disproportionate investment in its defence, devoting 10 percent of its GDP to the military.

He said the Saudi-led coalition against Qatar—the UAE, Bahrian and Egypt—is posing the crisis and threatening regional peace.

However, he said that the sanctions imposed on it by its four adversaries would cause no adverse impact on Qatar’s economy in the immediate future. He said the invasion on Yemen by Saudia Arabia’s coalition forces was tragic and ill-considered, and that it had created human catastrophe. He said that the Yemen war was a venture initiated by the Saudi crown prince.

He said the demand for imposition of a ban on Aljazeera TV and other Qatari media houses was unjust and unfair.

Business Recorder

In a letter, Game also asked the Prime Minister to take measures to promote the safety of journalists in mainstream and online media, and to combat impunity.

The Executive Director of IFEX,  the global network working to promote and defend freedom of expression worldwide, said the UNESCO Director-General’s biennial report was a way for states to demonstrate their commitment to addressing crimes against journalists and media workers by providing detailed information on the steps being taken to achieve justice and end impunity.

The report is expected to serve as a monitoring mechanism for tracking progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 16.10 on access to information and fundamental freedoms, which UN member states unanimously adopted. It has been observed that the report’s value would be further strengthened through the collection of information on good practices.

The IFEX Executive Director applauded Pakistan’s responses given in the years 2014 and 2016 on the Director-General’s request and asked him to further improve this trend of accountability by submitting a detailed and updated information on journalists killing cases to UNESCO, besides granting them permission to make it publicly available.

She hoped that the Prime Minister would assist UNESCO in the collection of good practices by providing information on general safeguards implemented for the protection of journalists and also end impunity issue in Pakistan.  She said responses by Pakistan would be included in the upcoming 2017 World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development report and the 2018 report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity.

Game informed Sharif that since 2006, over 800 journalists and media workers had been killed worldwide and in more than 90% of those cases, the perpetrators had gone unpunished and such type of extreme unchecked violence was the ultimate form of censorship that severely curtailed the flow of information necessary for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society to flourish.

“The culture of impunity that has developed around this issue only makes it more likely that such crimes will continue to occur. For this reason, the issue of impunity for killing of journalists is one of the greatest threats to freedom of expression and information worldwide,” she further said.

The IFEX Executive Director urged the Prime Minister to ensure that Pakistan’s efforts are documented in the relevant reports and the government demonstrates accountability by making the submission to UNESCO before 30 May 2017.

“In doing so, you will be helping to improve political will to address violence, building a global repertoire of best legal practices, and showing that attacks on freedom of expression in Pakistan will not be tolerated. We look forward to your response to this letter and to seeing updated information on the cases mentioned above made public in the relevant reports and on the UNESCO website,” Game concluded.

ISLAMABAD: The Censorship Committee on Defence Planning (CCDP) has been revived by the government after 18 years to protect the “national interest” being threatened, particularly by the unregulated and unchecked electronic media of the country.

Sources said that the CCDP, which met on Dec 16, 2015, after a long gap of 18 years, decided to regulate the selling of airtime by local TV and radio channels to foreign media. This was the CCDP’s first meeting after 1997.

“Many TV channels and radio stations are airing foreign programmes/ content, which could be detrimental to the national interest,” an official document relating to the last CCDP meeting says.

During emergencies and war situations, the committee decided to have an effective monitoring mechanism of these private channels. For this purpose, a media monitoring cell was set up that would monitor private TV and radio channels during emergencies and war.

The Dec 16 meeting — which was chaired by secretary information and attended by officials of civil, military and intelligence officials — observed that the during the last 18 years, technological advancement in the media and communication sectors had changed the media and communication landscape of the country.

In view of the present ground realities, the committee decided to bring its own role in line with the modern challenges, particularly from electronic and social media. The committee decided to revise its own formation to ensure the inclusion of officials from all relevant civil, military and security agencies.

The meeting also decided that there should be uniformity in the CCDP at federal and provincial levels to evolve a mechanism to review the censorship regulations and procedures having a bearing on “National Interest/ Defence Planning”.

The provincial CCDPs will be approached by the federal committee through respective chief secretaries so that the same procedures and parameters are followed at the federal and provincial levels.

The committee also discussed the issues concerning telecommunication sector and private courier services and decided to replace sub-committee of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Censorship Committee with the Telecommunication Systems Censorship sub-committee.

Regarding the private courier services, it was decided that these services should be regulated through a regulatory authority formed for this very purpose. The committee also reviewed the proposed changes suggested by the Central Board of Films Censors in the existing censorship code after the 18th Amendment.

According to sources, the electronic media’s madness for rating over the past several years have badly compromised the national interest, dented social and religious values of the society besides defaming all and sundry even judges. Mostly, the media houses have no mechanism to check what is being aired in violation of the law and the Constitution and even against religious teachings and the national interest.

Only recently, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for the first time started showing its muscles to regulate the TV channels. It is believed that the revival of the CCDP will help the electronic media to operate within the limits set by law and the Constitution.

The News

He was speaking at a day-long paralegal workshop titled ‘Communicating rights at work’, organised by IRADA – a not for profit organisation – in collaboration with Solidarity Centre.

Advocate Aftab Alam, the trainer of the workshop, said the number of journalists in Pakistan had increased from 2,000 to over 18,000, whereas the number of other media industry workers from 7,000 to over 300,000 within a period of 13 years.

The rapid growth in the industry was, however, accompanied with a decrease in respect for journalists’ basic labour rights, including fair wages, decent employment conditions, trade union rights and physical safety while on job, he added.

Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) President Afsar Imran opined that existing laws were sufficient to ensure rights, but serious efforts were needed to see that they were implemented in letter and spirit.

All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC) chairman Shafiuddin Ashraf observed, “It is us journalists who are to be blamed for the violations of our rights. We have to stand united to ensure we were given our due rights.

Alam called for understanding laws of the media industry in order to make efforts for their implementation.

The participants observed that journalists’ unions had no role in educating media personnel with respect to their rights and neither do they provide any assistance in case of victimisation.

A need for local unions to work in close coordination with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was also highlighted.

The workshop was attended by senior representatives of APNEC, PFUJ, KUJ and journalists from all media houses.

The News

ISLAMABAD: The radio frequency authorities have admitted not developing any mechanism to block illegal use of airwaves despite a large number of violations over the years.

The unauthorised use of the radio spectrum, according to the Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act of 1996, is an offence that may be punishable with imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to Rs 10 million or both.

However, the regulatory authority – the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) – has remained dormant throughout the years.

These details emerged on Thursday during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which reviewed the board’s audit report of the 2013-14 fiscal.

The moment PAC was informed several operators had been using radio frequencies illegally, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho from the PPP lamented the board could not even stop Mullah Fazlullah, the incumbent chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Mullah Radio, as he came to be known, illegally used airwaves of the Swat district to galvanise public support through a mixture of terror and persuasion in 2008 when the militants took over the picturesque valley.

“We did not have the equipment to block [Fazlullah’s station] but the agencies concerned [army] did have them,” replied the FAB executive director.

After the PAC meeting, a senior official told The Express Tribune that blocking an illegal radio station was not that simple.

Blocking, he said, is not possible unless the location of the radio is clearly identified. “Fazlullah was playing hide and seek back then in the valley but even then the law enforcement agencies managed to tackle him,” he claimed.

Responding to a question, he said blocking a particular radio in an area was difficult as blocking airwaves would trigger a blackout of all radio stations. The auditors lamented FAB could not develop functional regulations despite the lapse of 17 years since its establishment in 1996, allowing operators to use them illegally.

But FAB is not the only one to blame. According to the audit report, PTA also did not take timely action and issued general letters to the illegal users with a delay of one year.
Express Tribune

As is invariably the norm, the assailants in both instances escaped unchallenged after committing the crime. While it is too early to ascertain the motive of this second murder of a journalist within weeks (the first one was claimed by the Taliban), it is often the case that powerful groups, angry at being shown in a poor light for their wrongdoings, retaliate with violence.

Journalists have to come to grips with all sorts of pressures, from criminal elements, terrorists, government officials and even the law-enforcement apparatus, which is why theirs is such a perilous calling. A report on safety of Pakistani media professionals presents a bleak picture of level of insecurity faced by them and calls for serious efforts by governments and media to change the present situation where those who kill, injure, abduct and threaten journalists are almost never punished.

The Report on the Safety of Media Workers, released by Pakistan Press Foundation on the International Day on Impunity, documents that since 2001, 47 media workers have been murdered, 164 injured, 88 assaulted, 21 abducted and 40 detained. In addition, 24 media professionals died while covering dangerous assignments.

There have been convictions in only two cases out of 384 cases of violence against media. It should also be noted that Pakistan ranks ninth on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ global Impunity Index, which analyses countries where journalists are murdered and their killers roam free. The government needs to end its apathy and help change this dire situation. It needs to take action to ensure media workers carry out their professional duties in a less intimidating environment. They should enjoy the level of freedom necessary to work unhindered to report on matters of public interest.

Express Tribune

The Report on Safety of Media Workers released by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on the International Day on Impunity documents that since 2001, 47 media workers have been murdered, 164 injured, 88 assaulted, 21 abducted and 40 detained. In addition 24 media professionals were died while covering dangerous assignments. There have been convictions in only two cases out of 384 cases of violence against media.

In Pakistan, journalists are killed, unjustly detained, abducted, beaten and threatened by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, militants, tribal and feudal lords, as well as by religious groups and political parties that claim to promote democracy and the rule of law. Adding to the gravity of the situation is the fact that the perpetrators of violence against journalists and media workers enjoy almost absolute impunity from prosecution in Pakistan.

Because of conflicts and insurgencies the number of murders and killings in the highest in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Since 2001, 21 journalists and media workers were killed in Balochistan, 19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9 in FATA and 15 in Sindh, 4 in Punjab and 3 in Islamabad.

Threats and violence have forced many journalists to move from these danger zones and to leave the profession or to resort to self-censorship, particularly in conflict areas. As a consequence, news reports from conflict areas are based on press releases, not on observations by independent journalists. Thus, new reports that are published or broadcast lack credibility and do not inform the public in an objective manner.

The two convictions by courts were in Sindh for the murder of Daniel Pearl of Wall Street Journal and Wali Babar of Geo Television. In both the cases the federal and provincial governments seriously perused the cases because of pressure from the media organisations of the murdered journalists. The report thus recommends that criminal cases should not only be registered but should also be properly investigated and prosecuted against the perpetrators of violence against media. The report also calls on media itself to take the lead in ensuring safety of media practitioners and to ensure long-term follow up of cases of assault on media organisations and workers.

Apart from murders and killings, the largest number of cases of violence against media occurred in the province of Sindh. Out of a total of 164 journalists and media workers injured and assaulted since 2001, 91 were in Sindh. Surprisingly the second place in these categories with 70 assaults was Islamabad, which was largely due to the assault on large number of media practitioners by supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) during the Dharna in 2014. Forty Eight media practitioners were injured and assaulted in Punjab, 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 14 in Balochistan.

This reluctance to hold those who use violence against media professionals exists even in high profile cases such as that of murderous attack on Hamid Mir in 2014, and the murders of journalists Saleem Shahzad in 2011 and Hayatullah Khan in 2006. In all three cases high profile commissions were set up but the result has been nil.

Hamid Mir of Geo Television received six bullet wounds when he was attacked in Karachi in April 2014. The government set up a judicial commission in response to national and international furor over the attack. The commission was supposed to submit a report in 21 days. However, eighteen months have passed and the commission has still not submitted the report. Meanwhile, Mir and other journalists continue to receive threats and face a sense of increasing insecurity. The report calls for the early completions of the commission report which should fix responsibility and be made public.

Cases that are not high profile are covered up at the local level. One such example is that of the fatal shooting of Shan Dahar, reporter of “Abb Takk” TV channel on the night of December 31, 2013 in Badh, in Larkana district. He was shot in his back and was taken to the hospital where he remained unattended until he succumbed to his injuries many hours later on January 1, 2014. The local police, in an investigation that his family believes to be flawed and motivated, termed the death as an accidental death as a result of shooting on New Year’s Eve. However, the family believes he was targeted because of his stories on use of fake medicines in local hospitals. Despite repeated promises, including those by Minister of Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid, to have the case re-investigated, no action has been taken by the provincial or federal governments.

The report emphasizes that free media is essential to democracy in Pakistan and for promoting transparency and accountability, a prerequisite of sustained economic uplift and that the impunity enjoyed by those who attack Pakistani media is seriously hampering independent journalism in Pakistan.

Complete report is available in English at: http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Report-on-Safety-of-Media-Workers.pdf

In Urdu at: http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Report-on-Safety-for-Media-Workers-Urdu-2.pdf