LAHORE: The sudden death in Islamabad of Maria Golovnina, the Bureau Chief of Reuters in Pakistan and Afghanistan, on Monday, has sparked a lot of speculation and the internet is already littered with rumours regarding the cause of her untimely demise.

Her death is certainly very disturbing for the London-based Reuters, functioning since October 1851, because this globally acclaimed news agency had earlier lost two of its staffers during November 2001 (Afghanistan) and a matching number during 2007 (Iraq).

In 2007, as the April 6, 2010 edition of a prestigious British daily newspaper “The Independent” and the WikiLeaks reveal, US Apache helicopters had killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

The killed Reuters staffers included the media outlet’s photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh.“The Independent” said a classified US military video had confirmed the two deaths.

In November 19, 2001, a Reuters photojournalist Harry Burton (an Australian) was killed in an ambush with a native colleague Azizullah Haidari and two others in Afghanistan.

The other two journalists losing lives in this incident were Julio Fuentes (working for a widely-circulated Spanish newspaper “El Mundo”) and Maria Grazia Cutulli (working for an Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”).

The 34-year old half Russian and half Japanese journalist Maria Golovnina, head of Reuters Afpak (Afghanistan and Pakistan) Bureau, was very fond of the late American actor and comedian Robin Williams, her Facebook page shows.

Maria’s Facebook page further reveals that in November 2014, she had broken a leg in Afghanistan and the three fractures had led to the implantation of two titanium screws in her shinbone.

This is what Maria had written on her Facebook page on November 26, 2014:”So now I am the proud owner of two titanium screws in my shin bone following a 2-hour operation.”She is the second internationally known journalist, after Daniel Pearl, to have died in Pakistan in last 12 years or so.

Daniel Pearl, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal,” was kidnapped and murdered on February 1, 2002 Holder of US and Israeli citizenship, Pearl was actually based in Mumbai but was visiting Pakistan to investigate into the alleged links between the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and Al-Qaeda.

In March 2007, top Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Muhammad had stated at Guantanamo Bay Cuba that he had personally beheaded Pearl, and earlier in July 2002, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh—a British national of Pakistani origin—was sentenced to death by hanging for Pearl’s abduction and murder.

Here follows a list of some of the relatively better-known foreign journalists killed in Afghanistan and elsewhere since 9/11:

In April 4, 2014, a German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus was shot by a man wearing a police officer’s uniform, while this “Associated Press” staffer was covering the country’s 2014 Presidential election.

On March 11, 2014, a Swedish Radio reporter Nils Horner was killed during a talk with his Afghan translator in Kabul.

(Reference: The Guardian, March 11, 2014 edition)

On June 24, 2010, a US military journalist James Hunter was killed while covering a foot patrol.

(Reference: The Military Times)

On January 10, 2010, the British “Sunday Mirror” War Correspondent Rupert Hamer and his photographer were killed while traveling with US troops.

(Reference: The December 26, 2012 edition of The Independent)

On December 30, 2009, a Canadian reporter Michelle Lang (working for the “Calgary Herald”) was killed when a vehicle carrying him and four compatriot soldiers was hit by explosives.

(Reference: The December 30, 2009 report of CBC News)

On January 15, 2008, a Norwegian newspaper journalist Carsten Thomassen was killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel.

(Reference: The January 15, 2008 report of BBC News)

On October 7, 2006, Christian Struwe and Karen Fischer, who worked as freelance documentary filmmakers for a renowned German media outlet “Deutsche Welle,” were murdered in their tent on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the US-led Afghan War.

They were believed to be on their way to see the Buddha statues in Bamyan province. These statues were destroyed under the Taliban.

On November 26, 2001, a Swedish TV4 camera operator Ulf Stromberg was killed during a robbery bid at a house where several journalists from Sweden were staying.

(Reference: a report carried by “The Guardian”)

On November 11, 2001, a Luxembourg Radio reporter Pierre Billaud was one of five journalists who were attacked, while riding a tank during reporting. Three of these journalists, including Pierre, had succumbed to injuries. The other two journalists who got killed in this attack were Radio France International reporter Johanne Sutton and a German freelance journalist Volker Handloik.

The injured correspondents included Paul McGeough (Australian) and Veronique Reyberotte(French).

(Reference: The New York Times)

By the way, while talking of some brave internationally acclaimed female journalists killed in the line of duty, it is hard to forget the case of Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building in 2006.

A strong critic of the Kremlin, she had received death threats following her outspoken reports documenting torture, mass executions and kidnapping by the military during the conflict in Chechnya.

In 1996, Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter for the British “Sunday Independent,” was shot dead in her car on the outskirts of Dublin by a motorcycle pillion passenger.

She had carried out investigations into senior members of the Irish criminal underworld.

In 2007, two local women journalists were killed in Afghanistan. These included reporter Zakia Zaki, who was shot seven times as she slept with her 20-month-old son. Her death came six days after Shakiba Sanga Amaj, a local television newsreader, was killed.

In 2011, two women journalists were found murdered in a Mexico City park.

The bodies of Ana Marcela and Yarce Viveros, the founders of a political magazine, were discovered by joggers.

Their killings followed a pattern of murders by organised crime gangs and drug cartels.

In 2009, a radio journalist Uma Singh was hacked to death by a criminal gang in Nepal.

Uma Singh had broadcast and written about women’s rights and the caste system, as well as political issues.

In 1965, Dickey Chapelle, a female US photojournalist was killed by a landmine in Vietnam.

She had covered the Second World War.

(Reference: The February 22, 2012 edition of “The Telegraph”)

It was in November 1965 that a New York journalist and popular game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen was mysteriously killed in the United States.

By 1950, Dorothy’s column was running in 146 papers, and had garnered a whopping 20 million readers!

Each broadcast of her weekly TV show “What’s My Line?” was seen by 25 million viewers for 15 years in a row.

This show would feature a celebrity guest, for whom the panelists were blindfolded.

She was reportedly investigating into the November 1963 murder of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Just days before her mysterious demise, she had confided to her cameraman that she was all excited about going to New Orleans to meet a source whom she did not know, but would recognise.

The CIA had 53 field offices around the world watching her on her foreign travels.

During her autopsy, a pink liquid was found in her stomach but was never analysed.

(Reference: Midwest Today magazine)

The News

The post Many journalists have died in the line of duty the worldover appeared first on Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).

Secretary Information Mohammad Azam informed the meeting that the ministry was planning to work on a proposal to allocate Rs200 million for the families of the journalists who received injuries or were killed in the line of duty.

“The government has not paid a single penny to the families of the journalists who were killed or injured while performing their duties,” the secretary said in reply to a question by Ms Memon. The members expressed concerns over the role of the ministry which they said had failed to compensate the families of the victims.

Mr Azam said the government had already abolished the secret fund which was also used to support the journalists’ community to overcome their health-related issues in the past.

Secretary information says no compensation has been paid so far to families of mediapersons

“We have a proposal for the allocation of funds in this regard and have already discussed it with the government’s financial adviser to process in this regard,” he added.

Ms Memon directed the officials to finalise the proposals as soon as possible, adding the committee would fully support the proposals.

On Monday, the secretary had also informed the Senate standing committee on information and broadcasting that the ministry had already forward a summary to the ministry of finance to allocate Rs200 million for this purpose.

The secretary told the NA committee that the ministry was also planning to arrange workshops for journalists working in conflict zones.

“We have allocated Rs100 million for the training of journalists covering development activities. The mediapersons will be trained on the standards of economic reporting,” he added. Ms Memon later said a separate meeting would be convened to discuss issues related to the rating system of private TV channels.

The committee directed the ministry to improve the quality of press releases being issued by the Press Information Department (PID) and its regional offices.

It also recommended deputing more cameramen/reporters on the foreign visits of the prime minister.

Iqbal Khattak, a Peshawar-based senior journalist and media safety expert, told Dawn that nine mediapersons and four assistants attached with different media organisations lost their lives so far in the current year.

“It is unfortunate that the government has failed to allocate funds at the federal level for the families of the journalists who were killed in the line of duty.”

He said the government provided financial support to the families of the police and military personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty.

“The government is not serious in punishing the killers of the journalists. The culprits target journalists due to the slim chances of being convicted and punished,” he said.

Mr Khattak demanded the government establish a special public prosecutor to investigate and proceed against the attackers on journalists across the country.

DAWN

Journalist unions held demonstrations in various cities and towns and hoisted black flags on press club buildings.

The call for protests was given by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Council of Pakistan Press Clubs against the killing of Online news agency’s bureau chief Irshad Ahmed Mastoi, reporter Abdul Rasool and accountant Mohammad Younis. They were gunned down inside their office in Quetta on Aug 28.

Mr Mastoi was general secretary of the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ).

In Quetta, the press club was locked at 9am and a protest camp was set up outside where media workers stayed till evening.

Wearing black armbands and holding black flags, the protesters raised slogans against the government and security agencies.

Around 60 press clubs in districts and tehsils of Balochistan also remained closed.

Press clubs in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other cities and towns in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained closed for four to five hours.

Talking to this correspondent on phone from Islamabad, PFUJ president Afzal Butt condemned the killing of the three media workers. He criticised security agencies for their failure to arrest the killers.

He expressed concern over persistent attacks on media personnel in Balochistan and other parts of the country. Leaders of various political parties and office-bearers of Balochistan High Court Bar Association visited the camp in Quetta to express solidarity with media workers.

The protesters were addressed by BUJ president Irfan Saeed, Media Action Committee chairman Shahzada Zulfiqar and Quetta Press Club president Razaur Rehman.

They criticised the government for having failed to protect media workers.

They called for setting up a judicial commission to investigate the murder of the three media workers in Quetta.

DAWN

Those killed included Irshad Mustoi, Bureau Chief, Abdul Rasool Khajjak, reporter and Muhammad Younas, accountant. They were working in their office when armed men barged in at about 7:45 and opened fire and left the crime scene. No one has so far clamed responsibility for the attack.

Khajjak and Younas died instantly while Irshad was critically injured and died on way to hospital. The bodies were shifted to the hospital and initial examination showed that they suffered fatal bullet wounds in chest and head.

Mustoi, 35-year-old was also working as Assignment Editor of ARY News television channel. He was also General Secretary of Balochistan Union of Journalist (BUJ). The deceased left behind a widow, two daughters and a one year-old son.

Abdul Rasool Khajjak was a final year student of Mass Communication at Balochistan University. He had completed a three-month internship in the news agency and now working as a reporter.

Mohammad Younas was serving as an accountant in the news agency for a number of years.

President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and other journalist unions across the country have condemned the murders and called for immediate arrest of the killers. PFUJ has announced to observe a ‘black day’ on August 29, 2014. Quetta Press Club (QPC) has also announced a three-day mourning.

Pakistan Press Foundation

Mustoi, 35-year-old Assignment Editor of ARY News in Quetta, Bureau Chief of Online News Agency and General Secretary Balochistan Union of Journalist (BUJ), was shot dead in his office along with trainee reporter Muhammad Abdul Rasool and media staff Muhammad Younas by indiscriminate firing of unknown assailants. The assailants fled the crime scene.

The bodies were taken to the hospital and initial examinations stated that all three died due to bullet injuries to their chest and heads.

The PFUJ, while expressing solidarity with the families of slain journalists, has announced protests across Pakistan to condemn the killings. The protests will take place today (Friday, August 29).

The PFUJ has termed the deaths as the targeted killing of media workers and asked the authorities to take notice to trace the culprits. The PFUJ said: “The killing of BUJ office bearer is strong and hidden message to intimidate the media across Pakistan.”

The PFUJ added: “The journalists’ community in Pakistan has always been sacrificing their lives while discharging their duty of unearthing truth and many have received threats for doing their duty. We have asked the government time and again to take measures for the safety of the working journalists but all in vain.”

The IFJ said: “The murder of journalists and media worker in their office is a brutal and outright attack on media that is aimed to send a wider message to journalists and their unions. This incident proves just how difficult it is for journalists in Pakistan to perform their duties when their lives are so clearly at risk by myriad of forces attempting to silence them.”

The IFJ has called on Pakistan’s media to remain vigilant to their safety both at work and in their travels and home environment. It has again reinforced its call to Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, to take much-needed action on journalist killings, particularly in troubled regions such as Balochistan.

The IFJ expresses its deepest condolence to the families of Irshad Mustoi, Muhammad Abdul Rasool and Muhammad Younas.

International Federation of Journalists

Two unidentified gunmen stormed the offices of the independent news agency Online International News Network in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, killing the bureau chief Irshad Mastoi and a reporter, Ghulam Rasool Khattak. A network employee, accountant Muhammad Younis, was also killed, according to news reports.

All three were shot several times, according to police. Khattak and Younis were killed immediately, and Mastoi was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead, reports said. The assailants fled the scene, according to reports.

“This brazen attack underscores the dangers faced by journalists in Baluchistan where the press is constantly under pressure from all sides,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “The authorities must bring not only the gunmen but also those who commissioned them to justice. Anything less will send the signal that journalists can be killed with impunity.”

Mastoi was secretary-general of the Baluchistan Union of Journalists, the largest journalist body in the southwestern province, according to Malik Siraj Akbar, editor and founder of The Baloch Hal news website. Mastoi was an assignment editor for the privately owned news channel ARY News and had written for publications including The Express Tribune. He had reported on issues including the political situation in the restive region, according to colleagues.

It is not clear what Khattak covered at the news agency.

Baluchistan–Pakistan’s largest province by area and smallest by population–is mired in an insurgency and sectarian strife. Its residents are faced with criminal activity, daily disappearances and targeted killings, and international journalists are routinely denied access to the province.

CPJ research shows that local journalists in Baluchistan face pressure from a number of sources: pro-Taliban groups and Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies, as well as separatists and state-sponsored anti-separatist militant groups. At least six other journalists have been murdered in Baluchistan in direct relation to their work in the past decade, according to CPJ data.

Committee to protect journalists

ISLAMABAD: Twelve years after the gruesome murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, his four convicted killers, who were found guilty of kidnapping and beheading him in Karachi in January 2002, are keeping their fingers crossed to get their sentences reversed when the Sindh High Court finally decides their appeals against convictions.

The 38-year-old reporter of the Wall Street Journal had travelled to Pakistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and was abducted from Karachi on January 23, 2002, before being beheaded by militants while working on an investigative story about the alleged intelligence links of some Pakistani jehadi leaders. The Pearl killers, including Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed, a London School of Economics’ graduate-turned-jehadi, and his three accomplices, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adeel, were put on trial on April 22, 2002 by an Anti-Terrorism Court of Karachi. Three months later, Omar was handed down capital punishment while his three aides were sentenced to life in prison.

All the four alleged killers instantly approached the Sindh High Court, lodging appeals against the court verdict. However, the court has already consumed well over a decade to decide their appeals against convictions, even though the case has been adjourned for over 125 times since 2002. Although the last hearing was held last week, Rai Bashir, the defence lawyer of Omar Sheikh and his three aides, sees nothing unusual with the court handling of the case, saying that most of the appeals in the murder cases usually last for years and years.

He says his clients are keeping their fingers crossed to get their sentences overturned in the wake of the new evidence which proves that Daniel Pearl was actually killed by the 9/11 mastermind – former al-Qaeda No. 3 Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.

Claiming responsibility for the Pearl murder in a confessional statement read before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal in the United States on March 10, 2007, the al-Qaeda leader who was arrested from Rawalpindi on March 1, 2003, claimed to have beheaded Pearl. “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Daniel Pearl”.

According to Rai Bashir, after studying the pattern of the veins on his hand, American investigators have also concluded that Khalid Sheikh wielded the blade that killed Pearl.

“I will base my argument on the fact that my clients did play a role in Pearl’s kidnapping, but the murder was committed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and that my clients were not even present at the crime scene”, said Rai Bashir.

The proceedings on the appeals of the convicted men are moving at a snail’s pace, with the trial court judge having already sent a reference to the Sindh High Court to confirm sentences awarded to the defendants, who have pleaded innocent in their appeals.

When the two-member division bench of the Sindh High Court took up the rusting files of appeals last week, they were displeased with the absence of the appellants’ lawyers including Rai Bashir. The bench issued a notice to the appellants to ensure presence of their lawyers by the next date of hearing. “Otherwise, the court would provide lawyers at the state’s expense to proceed and decide the matter,” so said the head of the bench, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

Asked about the inordinate delay in deciding the appeals of Pearl’s killers, well placed judicial officers in the Sindh High Court said the fact remains that despite convictions in the case, the trial was still under way because the scope of the case has been widened with the arrests of two more facilitators in the Pearl murder case – Hashim Shah who was arrested in 2010 and Qari Abdul Hayee who was detained in 2011.

These arrests coupled with the confessional statement of Khalid Sheikh and the 2011 findings of a fresh investigation into Pearl’s murder by none other than the Americans themselves are set to be exploited by the defence lawyers of Omar Sheikh and his co-accomplices to request the court for a retrial. Sponsored by the Georgetown University, Washington, the investigation report titled “The truth left behind: Inside kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl”, had claimed that the four jehadis convicted in the killing did help kidnap the journalist but did not kill him because they were not present at the crime scene.

The News

Adnan Rehmat, who has been working for better safety of journalists for two decades, talks about reporting ethics, attack on media and safety

Adnan Rehmat is director of media development at Civic Action Resources. With a background in journalism, he is a media development specialist focusing on advocacy, research and training. For the past decade he has been working, among other things, with media sector actors — from industry associations of owners, editors and journalists to political parties, governments and international actors — on developing and promoting policies and practices of professional journalism that reduce risks to the media and its practitioners and building alliances on combating impunity against media.

The News on Sunday: How do you look at the recent attack on Express News, the third in line? Are you satisfied with the response of the rest of the media?

Adnan Rehmat: The attack on Express Group is but the latest in a string of attacks and part of a fairly consistent pattern that has resulted in over 70 journalists killed in the past 6 years at the rate of about one every month. However, what separates this attack from those in the past is the accompaniment by a detailed statement issued by the Taliban claiming formal responsibility and detailing explicit reasons why the target killings were done.

It’s clearly meant to browbeat and cow down a media that is becoming more outspoken and starting to criticise the Taliban. The response of the media can be divided into two categories: (1) By working journalists – this has been vociferous, they’re rightly alarmed by the fact that they have been formally declared targets and the sense of extreme vulnerability that comes with being declared an enemy by an actor that even the state is too scared to take on, and (2) By media industry/owner associations — this is characterised by a deafening silence that betrays indifference and callousness, which probably is rooted in the firm knowledge that no editor or owner has ever really been attacked. This contrast in response is deeply troubling.

TNS: Do you agree that in this attack there are signals for the entire media? One media house is targeted to terrorise the rest?

AR: Make no mistake, this attack is not merely a signal — it’s a declaration of war against the media. Expect big casualties. Consider this statement from the Taliban after the attack: “We claim the responsibility of the attack on Express News van. The reason of the attack is that in the war of ideologies all media channels are acting as propagandist and as rival party. If the media doesn’t came [sic] to line and still act as a rival our attacks will continue. Our targets are not limited to Express News but all those media channels and their concerned personnel who are acting as propagandist and rival party. The media should conduct their activities under the rules of Islam.” We all know Taliban keep their word on attacks.

Large areas of the country are heavily restricted for media. So media needs to stop pretending it is working in a reasonable environment.

TNS: Do you think this could have been avoided if there was some kind of consensus among the media houses on how to report acts of violence, what language to use and how to appear to act neutral?

AR: In conditions when the state’s assuring presence and projected protection is rapidly vanishing for a growing list of groups in Pakistan, a major defence of the country’s media practitioners lies in stringent adherence to professionalism. Sure, codes of ethics for reporting exist in some media houses but not all, and barely any media house has a declared specific policy on protection and safety — a set of safety protocols that restricts risk taking. In a country riven by extremism, terrorism and an array of conflicts that they have to report, it is astounding the media houses — and the industry as a whole in Pakistan — does not prioritise this. The result: over 100 journalists and media workers either got target killed or were killed in suicide attacks and bombings in public since 9/11.

This inattention to a policy of professionalism is criminal as it encourages unnecessary risk taking by journalists and cheats them of life and limb.

TNS: Internationally, especially in the post 9/11 context, there is talk of Stockholm Syndrome among journalists. We too seem to have that among journalists on either side who are labelled as pro-Taliban and anti-Taliban. Do we not need an introspection of some kind? Should we not demand greater freedom to report independently in conflict areas both from the militants and the military?

AR: It is people’s right to be pro-Taliban or anti-Taliban — you can’t do much about it when the state itself is suspected of promoting this confusion for its dubious ends but when it comes to media taking positions, two things need to be considered: (1) Journalists need to be wary of being manipulated into dubious media agendas by both state and non-state actors who clearly put their interests before citizens’ welfare and use violence as policy or propaganda instruments, and (2) Large areas of the country are heavily restricted for media such as tribal areas, regions seen as operational or logistical havens for non-state actors but where the military rather than civilian authorities control access. So media needs to stop pretending it is working in a reasonable environment. Reporting terrorism has been the dominant story for the past decade in Pakistan — coinciding with the period that 85 per cent of media that exists today came into being. They have reported without rules and paid a heavy, heartbreaking price for it.

TNS: There appears a symbiotic and complex relationship between acts of violence that are defined as terrorism and media. To affirm its status as a psychological weapon, somebody rightly said that “terrorism is aimed at the watching people and not at the actual victim”. If there is need for some kind of censorship for a limited period, how far do you think can the media compromise on its freedom for the sake of the larger good of society (the broadcasters did agree on refraining from live coverage at one point)?

AR: I’m not a supporter of censorship of any kind. But with a media background stretching back over two decades, a big part of which has been spent on efforts for greater professionalism and safety of journalists, I’m acutely aware of the debilitating constraints the media in Pakistan has to contend with while reporting. I believe that no story or report is worth your life.

Most of Pakistan’s 18,000 journalists get paid a pittance, if at all, and mostly not even on time. They are not soldiers and they have not signed on to lay down their lives and so should absolutely assume no unnecessary risk that doesn’t have pre-agreed coverage. When they die, their media houses don’t even own them or pay their families compensation or even pursue justice for them with legal aid. So unless there are first policies, mechanisms and procedures in place that value their work and cover their risks, journalists should learn to say “no” to becoming part of the story and not succumb to the lure of higher ideals that their employers themselves don’t subscribe to.

TNS: You have talked on the social media about the need for media houses to get united. Can you elaborate what kind of structure do you have in mind? Is it going to be one for the entire media or separate ones for print and electronic? How will the smaller channels be controlled? I am sure we are looking it as a self-regulatory exercise.

AR: Pushed by Pakistan being selected as one of 5 pilot countries with bleak safety standards for journalists and high casualty rates, under a new UN Plan of Action on Impunity Against Media, under which the country will be rated by the UN, there is already a landmark Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety that has brought together media owners, practitioners, civil society, parliament and government to consider a national framework of safety for media. It is early days for them but some of the key measures they are mulling include appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate past casualties in media and future attacks; a set of consensus safety protocols to be endorsed and adopted by media houses for journalists that reduce risk taking and a law on safety of journalists.

TNS: Isn’t it time again to emphasise the need for training of some kind for the staffers into conflict reporting?

AR: Yes. Barely 8 per cent of Pakistan’s 18,000 journalists have received some kind of training on safety. There is a massive demand from journalists and press clubs but media houses are reluctant to fund them and other resources are surprisingly scarce to meet demonstrable demand. This is sad because if journalists will continue to remain under pressure and continue dying, an open society is not what we will have and no marks for guessing who will win the propaganda war that Taliban want — influenced with bullets and bombs aided by criminal inaction by the state and inexplicable hara-kiri by the media itself by refusing to be anything less than professional.

The News

KARACHI: As the 12th death anniversary of American journalist Daniel Pearl draws near, the anti-terrorism appellate court moved only an inch ahead with the four convicts’ appeals against death and life imprisonment and confirmation of the sentences by the high court.

Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, a British national of Pakistani decent, was awarded death sentence while the co-accused – Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil – were given life imprisonment after the Anti-Terrorism Court found them guilty of beheading the foreign journalist in Karachi on January 23, 2002.

Pearl was abducted while investigating a story in Karachi about militants and the ‘Shoe Bomber’ Richard Reid.

The trial court judge had sent a reference to the high court for confirmation of sentences awarded to the defendants, who also exercised their right to appeal, and pleaded innocent.

A Lahore-based senior lawyer, Rai Bashir Ahmed, is representing Sheikh.

When the two judges took up the rusting files of appeals this week, they were irked with the absence of the appellants’ lawyers. The bench issued a notice to the appellants to ensure presence of their lawyers by the next date of hearing. “Otherwise, the court would provide lawyers at the state’s expense to proceed and decide the matter,” remarked head of the bench, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

The bench further ordered the prison superintendent, where the four appellants have been kept since their conviction, to ensure notices are served [to the convicts] personally and submit a progress report by the next date of hearing.

Trial still underway

Pearl’s is said to be the only murder case of journalists in which the culprits were arrested and sentenced. A report by the United States, however, later claimed that those convicted were not the actual killers, and rather the facilitators.

On the other hand, the trial is still under way as the scope has been widened with the arrest of another suspect, Hashim Shah, in 2010. Later, the authorities claimed to have arrested another facilitator, Qari Abdul Hayee.

Express Tribune

“Balach ko apni zameen bhi nahi mili” was the misleading headline ‘given’ to an article written by senior columnist Abdus Salam, alias Dr Chishti Mujahid, printed in the country’s leading Urdu weekly, Akhbar-e-Jehan, at the death of Baloch nationalist leader Mir Balach Marri. This headline eventually resulted in the murder of Dr Mujahid on February 9, 2008.

Even though this furthered the stance that both Balochistan and Fata were Pakistan’s most dangerous areas for journalists, Dr Mujahid’s case was different from that of the 28 other journalists killed in Balochistan in recent years. His was the first case where a group — the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) — claimed responsibility.

Dr Mujahid, a regular columnist for Akhbar-e-Jehan, was assassinated after receiving threats for his article on Mir Balach Marri. The weekly printed a highly provocative headline against Marri, perhaps not realising the possible consequences of this action, which outraged the Baloch nationalists.

Pakistan has been ranked the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, which makes Balochistan the ‘killing field’ for journalists within the country. Journalists in Balochistan have disclosed that if they get a press release from an extremist group, it is not the organisation but the militants who decide the space which will be given to it in the paper and no editing is allowed to be done to it. Dr Mujahid paid the price of writing the article on Mir Balach Marri’s death anniversary. It became a grave problem because an already critical article was given an even more provocative headline, that too, without the knowledge of the writer. The BLA reportedly defended the killing by saying that Dr Mujahid was working against Baloch interest. Hence, on the morning of February 9, 2008, as Dr Mujahid and his wife came out from their house, two unidentified gunmen opened fire on him, leaving him dead on the spot.

What actually went wrong in this whole incident was never properly investigated, either by the government or by his own media group. Thus, his killing was directly linked to his journalistic work. Therefore, whether in print or in electronic media, journalists must take extra care of the language they use when reporting from conflict zones or when writing about sensitive issues.

The late journalists Hayatullah Khan, Munir Sangi, Mohammad Ibrahim, Musa Khan Khel, Saleem Shahzad and a few others, were killed for their journalistic work in which they got themselves in dangerous positions while reporting.

The practice of journalism in Pakistan faces many challenges, but the biggest one is the threat to fair and unbiased reporting, due to which around 100 journalists have been killed in the past 12 years alone, making freedom of expression a ‘dream’.

Journalists have now started discussing what is more important — freedom of press or freedom to live. In the last few months, two sons of the president of the Khuzdar Press Club were killed and the general secretary of the same club was murdered. Likewise, 28 journalists have been murdered in Balochistan alone.

Hundreds of journalists work in fear and under pressure in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and even in Pakistan’s largest economic hub, Karachi. Most of them refuse to quit the profession because they love their work, even if it is at the cost of their lives.

Pakistan Press Foundation