KARACHI: Renowned Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, who has spent decades documenting Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories of Palestine, once remarked that it was a reporter’s “job to monitor the centres of power”. Jean-Pierre Perrin, a war correspondent for more than 30 years argued in his talk held on Tuesday at the Alliance Française that it was this very duty, the act of witnessing and documenting blatant violations of war, that had become increasingly difficult with time.

A war correspondent specialising in the Middle East, Mr Perrin has extensively covered conflict in numerous countries and regions: Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Kurdistan, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria among many others. Beginning his career with the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Mr Perrin has worked for the AFP, and currently writes for Libération and Politique Internationale.

The journalist pointed out that while it was easy “to be a political journalist in France or, for that matter, parts of Europe, it is more difficult to cover the Middle East”. He said that while the 1980s’ Iran-Iraq war was “one of the toughest wars” he had covered; he also had the rare opportunity to see a war first-hand.

Afghan mujahideen were good companions, and they took care of reporters, says veteran French war correspondent

At that time the concept of reporters embedding with one party or the other was less common and it allowed Mr Perrin to witness and report more freely. “Since the regime wasn’t organised, you could do whatever you wanted, and I ended up spending a lot of time at the front. I saw war for what it was really like: I saw lots of casualties and death.”

He had similar experiences when covering the Afghan war with the then Soviet Union in the late 1980s. “At that time the mujahideen didn’t question which newspaper you worked for, and what you wrote. It was very easy to embed with the [Afghan] mujahideen. It was a struggle but I have good memories of that time. You had to walk for weeks, and it was difficult to communicate since the mujahideen didn’t speak English. But they were good companions, and they took care of you.”

In the current conflicts in the Middle East, he said, this sort of reporting, where the correspondent could cover both sides, switching as they wish, was becoming increasingly difficult. “I don’t think we can cover [now] without embedding with somebody [some party]. For instance, it’s easy now to embed with the Americans, but then you can’t cover both sides. It is very pitiful to cover only one side.”

One of the reasons it had become increasingly difficult to report without embedding, Mr Perrin emphasised was due to journalists becoming targets themselves. For instance, after he left his post in Baghdad in 2006, the colleague who replaced him was kidnapped by Iraqi militants.

The Syrian conflict, Mr Perrin said, became difficult to cover for similar reasons. “I haven’t gone back to Syria since 2013. If you do go, you will be kidnapped in two to three days.

That’s why no reporter has gone. It is quite difficult for me to go back to Aleppo: two of my good friends were kidnapped in Syria. And in 2013, my colleague [the war correspondent] Marie Colvin and my good friend, Remi Ochlik, were killed. I was spared because I had left a day before.”

In a sharp contrast to Iraq and Syria, the easiest conflict to report on, according to the reporter, is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The main reason, Mr Perrin said, was due the small size of the occupied territories of Palestine and an ease with which reporters could cross the border.

“You can go from reporting on a demonstration in Ramallah or Jenin [in the West Bank, Palestine] in the morning to Israel in the evening.”

The French war correspondent ended his talk on a bit of a downer saying that he was not very optimistic about the current conflicts in Syria and Iraq. “I have no hope because so many countries are involved — Iraq, Turkey, Russia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

One of them, some of them, or all of them, have interests in making the conflict longer. I also don’t see reconciliation between the different communities in Iraq; torture is like an institution now. You torture [your captive] because you like it, because you want to break him, because you derive pleasure from it.”

The talk is part of an ongoing series ‘Open Doors in Pakistan’, a collaboration between the Alliance Française de Karachi and the Alliance Française de Lahore and various institutes to create, according to the organisers, “a dialogue between French academics and intellectuals, and their Pakistani counterparts”.

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“Only two out of 50 murder cases of journalists could be resolved in recent years in the country,” he said while speaking at the concluding session of a four-day workshop titled “Safety and Security Training for Journalists”, organized by PPF in collaboration with Free Press Unlimited at a local hotel.

PPF’s chief consultant Kamila Marvi said: “Women in the field of journalism have more exposure to society, as they have to work in the field where they face more sexual harassments.”

A representative of Hyderabad Press Club, Faheem Siddiqui, suggested that a committee comprising at least two female should be formed in every press club to tackle issues of sexual harassment, where every female journalist should report in case she faced any such problem.

Citizens-Police Liaison Committee’s (CPLC) Assistant Chief Shabbar Malik said: “We should never take a threat as a joke because it could be very dangerous to us. Such a threat should immediately be reported to a nearby police station and you should get information about the criminals who are threatening you by getting help from intelligence agencies or CPLC.”

Clinical psychologist belonging to Karwan-e-Hayat, Muhammed Idrees, said that sparing time from one’s busy and strenuous life to enjoy with family and friends was highly important for the refreshment of mind.

He said life is so busy these days that people usually do not get time to improve their mental health which could result in a mental disorder. “There are many ways to get relief or minimise your mental stress and these include exercise, listing your problems and find their solutions.”

Criticising the media for highlighting severe injuries cases, Idrees said that such exposures could lead to anxiety and depression in the society.

Bytes for All’s Manager (Research), Faheem Zafar, said that leaving digital equipments unsecured, specially mobile phone, was the most vulnerable device as it could be easily traced and through which your complete information could be looked into.

“Journalists are the mirror of society and they have to tell the truth, so there could be many possible enemies who could penetrate their digital accounts to get their personal information and misuse that,” he observed.

Zafar said there are several software and applications which could help encounter cyber threats, such as Spybot. This software could help in leaving no trace to be located by others, while Firewall would tell you what is entering your computer and what is going out of it without getting notice of it,” he added.

He said Chrome and Firefox are reliable browsers, therefore, using Internet Explorer should be avoided, while in e-mail services Hotmail and Yahoo are the most vulnerable services, although Gmail is relevantly better. The manager said opening website with writing https in browser is more secure rather than http which is insecure.

A trainer of Bytes for All, Farhan Hussain, said Facebook privacy settings must be checked from time to time as they very often change it without giving any notification, expose your private things and posts.

“In case there is a threat from cyber crimes to you or somebody is bothering you on mobile, which is usually faced by females, then FIA could be contacted as they have a cyber wing to deal with these kinds of troubles which is very effective and efficient,” he said.

A former master trainer and commandant of Federal Civil Defence Training School (FCDTS), Sarfaraz Ahmed Jafri, said: “Readiness of mind has a key importance for a person at the time of emergency or disaster to apply safety measures and rescue his own life and, if gets chance, others, as well.”

He said there was no alternative for a human life, therefore, it was always necessary to save it first. “Disaster or emergency mostly occur suddenly so, one should always be prepared for that and keep a first aid kit with him at home and while travelling away.”

Jafri said at the time of emergency one is required to check ABC (airway, breathing and circulation) of the victim. “Apply direct pressure to the wound and wash it thoroughly, however if something for example shrapnel or bullet shell penetrates body, it should not be pulled out because bleeding would be uncontrollable if it was pulled out.”

Senior trainer, Sub-Inspector Gul Awan said nobody should come closer to the crime scene or try to touch things around but law-enforcement agencies, because everything, if placed as it was right after the crime, could tell about the criminals through forensic evidences, and the threat of a secondary blast was always looming there. You may cover it closely after the police had completed their investigation.

“Always keep a way out first in your mind before entering any mobbed area. Do not try to run during crossfire but take shelter behind something solid or lay down straight because it is difficult for targeting a person lying down from a distance,” he said.

A DSP, on the occasion, said law-making was direly needed in the society as we were still following slavery-era law (British) in which direct FIR was reported without prior investigation which meant that now the accused could only get bail through court.

Principal of Police Training College, SP Javed, lauded the initiative taken by PPF for educating journalists about crime scene.

FCDTS’s senior trainer Altaf Hussain Dada, PPF’s Sr. Co-ordinator Musawir Shahid, Co-ordinator Naseem Akhter Shaikh, representatives of Hyderabad Press Club, Khuzdar Press Club, Quetta Press Club, Larkana Press Club Mirpurkhas Press Club and Nawabshah Press Club and local media people were also present on the occasion.

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