Journalists carrying placards and banners raised slogans against the killing of the journalist and government negligence to arrest the killers.

Addressing journalists, KUJ Secretary General AH Khanzada said all journalists were united and a combined meeting of the PFUJ and the KUJ would soon be convened to discuss the targeting of media persons.

Senior journalist Amir Latif said that killers of innocent citizens were roaming freely and no one seemed to have the power to stop them.

He said a joint meeting would be called in which they would device strategy for the betterment of journalists.

PFUJ Secretary General Khursheed Abbasi said the journalists would have to be more careful and alert.

He condemned federal and provincial governments for not arresting the killers of journalists

He demanded of the government to arrest the murderers of journalists and punish them.

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Mr Mastoi, reporter Abdul Rasool and accountant Mohammad Younis of Online news agency were gunned down at their office on Aug 28.

Carrying banners and placards, the media workers marched through different roads of the city and later gathered outside the press club where they raised slogans against the government and security agencies.

The protesters announced that press clubs across the country would remain closed on Monday in protest against the killing of journalists.

Addressing the protesters, BUJ president Irfan Saeed, Media Action Committee chairman Shahzada Zulfiqar, Quetta Press Club president Razaur Rehman, Abdul Khaliq Rind, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists’ senior vice-president Saleem Shahid and Haji Mohammad Yousuf condemned the killings and expressed dismay over the failure of security agencies to arrest the killers.

They said journalists were being targeted all over the country but the provincial governments had failed in arresting their killers. The country’s intelligence agencies had adequate resources and they should arrest elements involved in the killing of journalists, they added.

They criticised the Balochistan government over its failure to form a media commission for investigating the murders of journalists in the province. Over 40 journalists have been killed in Balochistan over the past five years.

They said journalists would continue their protest until killers of the three media workers were arrested. Reporters from Khuzdar, Kech, Panjgur and some other towns of Balochistan said it had become difficult for them to report impartially the incidents of violence in their areas.

DAWN

Till a few years ago, no one in the Pakistani media could believe that a journalist’s handcuffed and tortured body would be found one day. But Fata journalist Hayatullah Khan’s body was found in just that condition in 2005, almost five months after his disappearance.

The families of journalists have also come under attack. Hayatullah’s wife was not only attacked – after she identified the alleged kidnappers of her husband in her testimony before a judicial commission – but killed. What followed was a string of killings of journalists in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Once it would have been hard to believe that a journalist would be picked up from Islamabad, our most protected city, and his body would be found in a Punjab town. But that happened to Saleem Shahzad, who was under threat for his bold writing and sensitive disclosures.

Once it was impossible for anyone to believe that a journalist would be found dead just 30 minutes after giving a live beeper on TV.

But this too happened with Musa Khankhel, a correspondent for Geo News in Swat, who was killed soon after he reported on the procession of Sufi Mohammad, the head of the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi.

Another journalist, Mohammad Ibrahim, was shot dead along with his camera man after interviewing the head of an outlawed group in Fata.

Once it would have been unthinkable that a columnist would be killed simply because of a misleading headline. But Dr Chishty Mujahid was. A group claimed responsibility, signalling the beginning of dangerous times ahead for journalists in Balochistan, once the safest province for journalists.

Dozens of journalists have been killed there since then. The latest case was of the kidnapping and murder of Abdul Razzaq Baloch. His family was not able to get justice despite a petition filed in March after his disappearance.

In Karachi, journalists are threatened and killed by ethnic and political groups. Wali Khan Babar’s case still haunts journalists in Karachi. In that case, all the witnesses – including investigating officers – were killed.

What is common in all these cases is the state’s failure to protect journalists. Many journalists have migrated from Fata and Balochistan to safe houses in other cities.

Journalists in Fata find it most difficult to report on the ongoing conflict and anything relating to the Taliban or army operations.

With the massive rise in the number of militant groups – whether ethnic, sectarian, jihadi, political or with underworld connections, as well as state intelligence agencies – a journalist’s work has become more and more hazardous in Pakistan.

The failure of the state to provide safety and the failure of media houses to provide training have led to huge risks and Pakistan has come to be ranked among the three most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

Pakistani journalists and the media must keep in mind that more difficult days may lie ahead.

No training or protection can give you 100 percent guarantee of safety, but proper training can certainly give reporters the strength to cover a story with courage if they get insurance cover and appropriate equipment to protect themselves.

The writer is a senior journalist. Email: abbas.mazhar@gmail.com

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