According to press reports, protesters belonging to Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) vandalised the premises of Geo TV, as well as Daily “The News” and Pakistan’s largest circulated Daily “Jang”. They smashed the windscreens of vehicles of staff parked there, and also damaged the security wall before entering the premises.

According to “The News” since the sit-ins of the PTI and PAT started in Islamabad on August 14, the team of Geo has been attacked many times. The attackers have struck at least 20 times during last one week at the Geo/Jang building and pelted stones, broken windows and damaged vehicles in its parking lot. A female reporter had also been threatened by some participants of the sit-in while another reporter’s mic was snatched during the coverage.

Afzal Butt, President of one faction of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) condemned the incident and said if the police failed to provide security, then journalists, themselves, will protect their colleagues. He said the journalists also have the right to seek apology from Imran Khan and Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri for the attack on the Geo News office and the harassment of journalists, workers and staff members of Geo News, The News and Jang.

Ameen Yousuf, General Secretary of the other faction of PFUJ also strongly condemned the incident and said such violent acts should be stopped and adequate security be provided to media.

Pakistan Press Foundation

Pakistani and international print and electronic media have been publishing heartbreaking reports on the harassment of journalists by Pakistan state security agencies and militant groups since 9/11. The Taliban, sectarian groups and the ISI are harassing working journalists and have now decided to translate their threat into action. Two years ago, international community ranked Pakistan as the world’s most dangerous state for journalists.

Pakistani journalists have been receiving bad treatment from state authorities since September 2011, as the country became a frontline state in the war against terrorism. Hundreds of media workers and investigative journalists received death threats over the last 11 years and many of them are still living in fear. In a latest freedom of press index released by Reporters Without Border, Pakistan dropped eight places to 158th out of 179 states. Experts believe that failure of Pakistani establishment to provide security to journalists’ families is a major factor contributing to Pakistan’s shameful reputation as a graveyard for journalists.

Risks to the lives of media men have increased the last few years. Moreover, war in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Waziristan, Aurakzai and Karachi along with sectarian and ethnic terrorism and actions of ‘murder squad’ of the intelligence agencies have also led to the killings of local journalists. In January 2013, three more journalists were killed in Quetta. In Karachi recently, terming Pakistan as a dangerous place for journalists, speakers at a media workshop said that 65 journalists were killed during the last five years. Speaking aboutvulnerability of journalists, speakers said that on an average one journalist was killed every 28 days.

According to international media, more than 48 journalists have been killed in Pakistan by various terror groups and state agencies in the last few years. Among these journalists, 14 were from Khyber Pakhtukhwa, 12 from Balochistan, nine from Sindh and three from Punjab province. The number of incarcerated, missing, intimidated and harassed journalists is unknown. In view of these threats and harasment, dozens of Pakistani journalists relinquished their profession and moved to safe places with their families. Last year, from January to December seven journalists were killed. In 2011, 16 journalists were killed by Pakistani intelligence agencies and extremist groups.

Before going into the detail of journalist Mr Saqib Raja’s heartbreaking story and the murder of his son, I would like to highlight the attitude of Pakistani establishment and its intelligence agencies towards journalists in brief.

Well-known journalist Mr Saleem Shehzad was kidnapped, tortured and later found dead in a canal. Many people in Pakistan are confident that the ISI was behind his murder.

Another sad story of the brutal killing of a Pakistani journalist Malik Mumtaz in North Waziristan appeared in the last week of January 2013. According to a Geo Television report, Mumtaz came under attack near the Chashma Bridge. Mumtaz was recently elected president of the Miranshah Press Club. Another senior journalist Mr Khushnood Ali Sheikh, the chief reporter of the state controlled Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), was killed in Karachi by mafia groups. He was killed in February 25, 2013 as he refused to pay Rs, 50,000 in extortion.

An addition to the above mentioned attitude of Pakistani establishment towards journalists, recently, another Pakistani journalist came under attack for his courageous investigative reporting Journalist Mr Saqib Raja who fled Pakistan in fear of his family’s safety claimed asylum in the UK. He is the son of a mother who served as a doctor and a father who served as a high ranking police officer in Pakistan. In 1997, Raja became widely regarded as the best crime reporter in Pakistan. He reported Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case, suicide attacks, and the case of the British boy Sahil who was kidnapped for ransom. He also reported the story of government corruption where a cabinet resignation followed. Raja exposed the flawed strategies of Pakistan’s brutal war against the people of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Raja was a brilliant young journalist who in pursuit of truth and in the interest of his country exposed what was bad and wrong. It is conceivable that he made some powerful people upset by reporting their crimes and corruption. Military establishment was also after him while ISI was angrier with him.

Raja wrote a letter to the president and prime minister of Pakistan asking for security for his family but was refused. Professor Hamid Asghar of Gujjar Khan District, in a letter to a national daily, defended Raja and said that some elements were maligning his position and he was receiving death threats.

During the last days of December in 2010, his son was found dead in mysterious circumstances. He son was allegedly poisoned by Pakistani intelligence agencies or terrorist groups. They chased Raja contantly, but he had by then considered that his whole family was at risk. Raja subsequently sent his wife and daughters into hiding and fled to the UK with his remaining son, where he hopes to be less recognised and safer. Loss of his son has had a considerable impact upon his mental health. He currently considered that there is no happiness light or hope since his son was poisoned. In view of the attitude of Pakistani government and its security agencies towards journalists, Asian Human rights Commission urged Pakistani establishment to implement the article 19 of the constitution and the UN political right law regarding the freedom of expression. Government must also provide protection to working journalists.

The writer is the author of Policing in Multicultural Britain and can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com

Source: Daily Times

Reportedly, the crowd count was around 20,000 when Dr Tahirul Qadri began his speech. The protest site wore a populated look.

As Dr Qadri took the stage, some people misbehaved with media persons particularly with women journalists belonging to a private TV channel. After the journalists complained to their concerned media houses and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Minhjul Quran organisers announced that those who indulged in such acts were not members of Minhajul Quran and blamed the incident on miscreants who were “out to disrupt the long march”.

Female journalist Nosheen, speaking to a private TV channel alleged that she identified the people who misbehaved with them and that they were volunteers of TMQ.

PFUJ former president Mazhar Abbas said that he had received messages from a female journalist alleging that some men in the TMQ procession had harassed her.

The TMQ chief and his followers had been continuously expressing their irritation toward the media for saying that the crowd did not number in millions. The TMQ chief claimed that millions of people comprising men, women and children had reached Islamabad and were participating in the long march. It was also witnessed that a few people inside the crowd chanted slogans against senior TV anchorperson Hamid Mir for being biased and partial towards TMQ.

Hamid Mir in a message published in the social media wrote, “Both supporters and opponents of Qadri bashing media we are only with the supremacy of constitution the only consensus document.”

The Parliamentary Reporters Association and other organisations of journalists have strongly condemned the harassment of journalists covering the long march by the workers of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. In a statement, the Parliamentary Reporters Association Interim President Siddique Sajid demanded from Dr Tahirul Qadri to take strict action against the workers and security guards present in the long march venue who manhandled the journalists, particularly female journalists. He also demanded that the journalists should be freely allowed to perform their professional duties.

Pakistan Press Foundation