ISLAMABAD: Media persons staged a walkout from the Press gallery of the National Assembly on Monday in protest against the killing of three Express News staffers in Karachi. The boycott was jointly announced by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), National Press Club (NPC) and Parliamentary Reporters Association.

NPC President Shehyar Khan, while pointing to fresh threats to the media, asked for the government’s response over the killing of three Express News staffers.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid told the protesting journalists that the government shared their grief and concerns. He added that the prime minister has constituted a committee to look into the matter. The committee would meet on January 31, he added. Representatives of the journalist community would also be invited to the meeting.

However, the minister said there was no quick fix to the problem. “Journalists will remain unsafe even if every single one is provided with a bullet-proof vehicle. This issue cannot be addressed unless all of Pakistan is safe,” he said.

He said there should be consensus on some issues and those in opposition should be labelled ‘from other side’. Rashid said Taliban did not acknowledge democracy and considered it un-Islamic and those who have soft corner for them should be addressed.

“We have to overcome the divide within us as Pakistan is being attacked from within,” he added, ‘we all, including politicians, army and law enforcement agencies were unsafe’.

Express Tribune

Pakistan’s journalists are feeling the after-effects of a brutal attack on Express Media, the third and most lethal attack on the media group and its staff in the last six months. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, and has issued a fatwa (decree) warning of further attacks against media outlets that they say are providing “misinformation” against them.

On 17 January 2014, four gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire on the Digital Satellite News Gathering van of the Express News TV channel, which was stationed in the suburb of Nazimabad in Karachi.

Technician Waqas Aziz Khan, driver Muhammad Khalid, and security guard Muhammad Ashraf were seated in the front of the van. The young men, all aged less than 30, were shot multiple times at close range and rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead. A cameraman who had been seated in the back survived the attack.

In response to the incident, the government created a two-member committee, consisting of the Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the Interior Minister, and tasked it with consulting media houses and journalists’ bodies on how to devise a security strategy for journalists.

The president of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) lamented that the media continues to be targeted “while those in power are playing the role of a silent spectator”.

The day after the lethal attack, protest demonstrations by journalists, photographers, camera operators, politicians and civil society activists were held in Karachi and other cities. While speaking to the demonstrators, Amin Youssuf, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), announced a 10-day mourning period during which black flags would be hoisted outside press clubs throughout the country. A few days later, the group called for a hunger strike for 23 January, to protest the fact that the killers have not been arrested and proper compensation has not been given to the families of the assassinated journalists. The PFUJ asked unions throughout the country to participate.

The Taliban claim responsibility

Kamal Siddiqi, editor of the Express Tribune, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) he could not point to any specific reports that could have led to this latest attack. The outlets that form part of the Express News media group report critically on politics, crime, and international affairs, and have periodically received threats, CPJ reports.

Soon after the attack, in a live telephone call to the anchorperson of Express TV, Ehsanullah Ehsan, former spokesman for Tahreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the killings. According to the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Ehsan accused the Pakistani media of having “assumed the role of the opposition” by spreading “venomous propaganda against the TTP”. The spokesman warned the media that they must side with the TTP in this war of ideologies or face more attacks.

An attack on the whole media

Analyst and director of media development at Civic Action Resources, Adnan Rehmat, told Index on Censorship that he believes the attack on Express News was “meant to browbeat and cow down a media that is becoming more outspoken and starting to criticize the Taliban.”

Omar Quraishi, editorial page editor at the Express Tribune, agreed that this was a message “to the whole of Pakistan’s independent media . . . What needs to be understood by all journalists and media groups an attack on Express Media group is an attack on the whole media.”

The TTP’s message that any media seen to be “biased” against them would face attacks poses an ethical conundrum. As Index on Censorship pointed out: “How much airtime to give to the Taliban to keep them appeased?”

“Media is now confronted by a double whammy challenge – wail about terrorism while simultaneously giving air time to those who perpetrate this violence,” said Fahd Hussain, news director at Express News.

The stakes suddenly became a lot higher as of 23 January. Dawn newspaper reports that the TTP, for the first time since its inception in 2005, has issued a fatwa (decree) against the media and prepared a media hit-list. The 29-page fatwa accuses the media of “siding with the ‘disbelievers’, against Muslims, in the ‘war on Islam’ and inciting people against ‘the mujahideen’ through propaganda as well as of propagating promiscuity and secularism,” according to Dawn.

The initial hit-list names nearly two dozen journalists and publishers. It includes the names of a number of media-group owners, the news heads of various television channels, prominent anchors, the editor of a leading English-language newspaper and even some field staff.

“Even at this stage the media could mend its ways and become a neutral entity,” Ehsan reportedly asserted. “Otherwise, the media should not feel secure. A few barriers and security escorts will not help. If we can get inside military installations, media offices should not be too much of a challenge,” he threatened.

Lack of action on previous attacks

The authorities’ inability or unwillingness to bring perpetrators of previous attacks on the Express Media group to justice only heightens the concern for the media. In December 2013, two staff members were injured when explosives were thrown at the group’s offices in Karachi. And in August, gunmen opened fire at the entrance of the group’s offices. Despite visiting the Express Media office in Karachi twice and setting up investigation teams to probe the two earlier incidents, not a single perpetrator has been arrested, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports.

Referring to the December attack on the Express Media group, Ehsan of the TTP reportedly said: “We had not incurred any loss of life so we attacked them again.”

“If those involved in previous attacks [against Express News] had been caught, perhaps they would not have been emboldened to continue this campaign against the media,” said Owais Aslam Ali, PPF secretary general.

In a 21 January letter to the Prime Minister, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that “the government of Pakistan has failed in its duties to protect media workers when the realities for them are all too apparent . . . these brave journalists continue to try to do their jobs knowing death is a real repercussion.”

Pakistan ranked 159th out of 179 countries in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. It has been one of the world’s worst nations in combating deadly anti-press violence, CPJ’s Impunity Index shows. Condemning the actions of attackers is “no longer enough”, the IFJ stressed, if Pakistan wants to tackle its rank as one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists. In October, IFJ launched the End Impunity campaign to seek justice for journalist killings in Pakistan, Iran and Russia.

A final word of caution comes from Quraishi, of the Express Tribune. He is quoted in Deutsche Welle as saying that “while only one organization has been attacked so far, journalists, society and the state need to understand that this is part of an assault on the whole media, and time for them to get united and deal with the threat head on.”

IFEX

Three staffers of “Express News” TV channel were killed on January 17, 2014, when unknown armed men riding on motorcycles opened fire at the stationary Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) van of the channel in Karachi, the capital city of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.

Those killed included Waqas Aziz Khan, technician; Muhammad Khalid, van driver; and Muhammad Ashraf, security guard. Khalid is survived by his wife and three children; Khan was the eldest of two siblings while Ashraf got married about three months ago. The government has announced compensation of Rs: 0.5 million for each victim’s family.

All three victims seated in front of the van were received bullets were rushed to the hospital where they were pronounced dead. “They were shot multiple times from close range and died due to excessive blood loss” said the medico-legal officer at the hospital.

This was the third and most lethal attack on Express Media Group and its staff in the space of five months. In two previous attacks, the main offices of Express Media Group were targeted.

Soon after the attack, in a live telephone call to the anchor person of Express TV, Ehsanullah Ehsan, former spokesman for Tahreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the responsibility of killings. He said “At present, Pakistani media is playing the role of (enemies and spread) venomous propaganda against Tehreek-e-Taliban. They have assumed the (role of) opposition. We had intimated the media earlier and warn it once again that (they must) side with us in this venomous propaganda.”

In response to the incident, government constituted a two-member committee, comprising the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Senator Pervaiz Rashid and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to contact media houses and journalists’ bodies to devise a strategy for security of journalists.

Protest demonstrations by the journalists, photographers, cameramen, leaders of political parties and activists of civil society were held on Jan 18 in Karachi, and many other cities and towns.
Speaking to demonstrators The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Secretary General, Amin Yousuf condemned the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the killers and announced 10-day mourning during which black flags would be hoisted outside press clubs throughout the country.
He urged the Pakistan Broadcasters Association, the All-Pakistan Newspaper Society, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors to chalk out a joint line of action to ensure safety of workers in newspaper organisations and TV channels.

Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) President G M Jamali while condemning the brutal killing of the media workers, said media is being targeted continuously but rulers were playing the role of a silent spectator.

Pakistan Press Foundation

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has announced that a judicial commission will be set up to investigate the killing of journalists in the province over the past four years.

He also announced payment of compensation to the families of the slain journalists. More than 30 journalists have been killed in Quetta, Khuzdar, Kalat, Hub, Turbat, Gwadar, Pasni and Panjgur since 2009.

The chief minister made the announcement in the Balochistan Assembly when journalists returned to the press gallery after staging a walkout in protest against a firing incident in Karachi in which three employees of a TV channel were killed.

Balochistan Union of Journalists chief Irfan Saeed urged the assembly to condemn the attack and put pressure on the Sindh government for early arrest of killers.

The chief minister condemned the incident and said that members of the commission would be appointed after consulting the assembly members.

DAWN

CHARSADDA/SWAT: Members of Charsadda Union of Journalists and Muhammadzai Union of Journalists on Sunday held separate protests against the attack on Express Media Group’s employees, which killed three staffers on Friday.

Protesters said it was a sorrowful incident, terming it a failure of the state. They urged the government to ensure security for all journalists across the country.

Senior political figures of the district, including Awami National Party leader Alam Zeb Khan, Member National Assembly Maulana Gohar Shah and several others participated in the protest, demanding the government to put special emphasis on resolving the issue of insecurity.

Journalists in Swat also staged a demonstration against the incident in front of Swat Press Club. The protest was led by Ghulam Farooq and Rashid Iqbal.

Participants sported placards inscribed with slogans of press freedom and with demands of assurances for security of journalists.

Speakers, at the occasion, said this was not the first instance when journalists were targeted, with many similar incidents being reported in the past. However, no arrests have been made in any of the cases, they claimed.

They also urged the government to take concrete steps for provision of security to all people working in the media. They later offered prayers for the deceased.

Journalists in Kohat district also held a protest rally led by Kohat Press Club President Zahir Khan Bangash. The rally started from Kohat Press Club and ended at Shuhada Chowk. Protesters had held placards inscribed with slogans against the government for its failure in providing security to journalists.

Demonstrators said Pakistan was a democratic country but despite that journalists were not being provided protection.

Express Tribune

In a space of six months, the Express Group has been attacked three times. In the previous instance, a guard was injured and paralyzed from the waist down. Others were also wounded. Since then we have been trying our best to shield our staff from the dangers that surround us as working journalists.

The most recent attack took place miles away from our Karachi office. And this time round, the cost has been even higher. Three innocent men – Waqas Aziz, Muhammad Khalid and Muhammad Ashraf have lost their lives in what can best be described as a senseless killing. All three were shot as they sat in the DSNG vehicle of Express News in North Nazimabad, a suburb of Karachi.

They were part of our family. Words cannot describe our loss. Till the very last, technician Waqas Aziz showed more concern for others over himself. Our reporter Rabia Ali, who interviewed eye witnesses after the incident, writes that the injured Waqas told onlookers who were helping him to leave him and assist the others. Such was his nature.

A while after he was shot in the head and in the chest, he recited the Kalma and succumbed to his injuries. Being the sole breadwinner of the family, with parents who are both retired government servants, Waqas would often be told not to pursue such a dangerous profession. But the 29-year-old, who had a Bachelor’s degree in Technology in Electrical Engineering, continued to work in the field. Who do we blame for his death?

Despite his wounds, Muhammad Khalid, the driver of the vehicle drove to the nearest hospital in a bid to save the lives of his injured colleagues. One should consider him for a national award for his act of bravery.

Khalid leaves behind a wife and two children – a three-year-old and a nine-month-old baby. What will tell these children when they grow up? What kind of Pakistan will they live in, I wonder. A country where innocent lives are lost every day for no apparent reason.

Our reporter writes that at security guard Muhammad Ashraf’s house, his mother kept on staring at his pair of slippers, trying to control the tears. She recalled that Ashraf did not talk much. “But now I hear his voice all the time,” she added. One wonders who else can hear the voice of those who have been killed without reason.

Our staff is shocked and shattered. We have received a number of condolence messages. There is a feeling of despondency. We are still waiting for the government to nab those who attacked our offices in the earlier two successive incidents. There are many questions but no answers. Our interior minister Chaudhry Nisar continues to be unavailable. He was not at hand to share our grief even on the day of the incident. In the past too he has not been accessible.

In the first incident, men came on motorcycles at shot at will. The sheer audacity of the attack made us wonder. In the second, they threw grenades from the overhead bridge that runs alongside our office at a time when there is peak hour traffic. In both, the law enforcement agencies did not appear on the scene till much later. We are still to hear about the status of the investigations.

In our staff meetings, questions are being raised. Where do we go from here? What do we do? Why have some media houses, which claim to be at the forefront of media freedom, not even reported the tragic deaths. It is a shame how even this tragedy has become a victim of media politics. One can only say, ignore this at your own peril.

More important, questions are being asked of our government. What is being done and what is being thought out. Will we continue to be on the receiving end, and being made an example of? Our government should lead the nation and take the nation in confidence either way.

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places for a journalist to work in. This danger extends to all media workers. It is unfair to expect us to report honestly when there are not enough space for us to operate in.

There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered. At the same time we struggle to move ahead. Some pointed out to me that this issue relates to our group only. Actually, it does not. It relates to the crisis that Pakistan faces. Make no mistake. Our country is facing one of its biggest challenges ever.

Express Tribune