WASHINGTON: Two international media advocacy groups urged the government of Pakistan on Thursday to provide proper security to journalists.

“We are alarmed by the violence against journalists and media workers in Pakistan after three separate attacks in 24 hours,” said the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Also read: One dead in firing on Geo TV DSNG van in Karachi

“Two dead and two wounded in two days — this grim toll will send yet another intimidatory message to the Pakistani media,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk.

Pakistan is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Reporters Without Borders also expressed concern about the restrictive nature of a new code of conduct for the electronic media drafted by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra). The code became effective on Aug 20.

“The code is clearly designed to increase censorship of radio and TV programmes, which are already subject to close control,” the group noted.

Dawn

Reporters Without Borders condemns the use of intimidation and violence as a new way to silence the embattled TV news station Geo News after unidentified gunmen torched cable TV operator WorldCall’s premises in the southern city of Karachi on 19 July.

WorldCall had only recently resumed transmission of Geo News, which a government agency suspended for 15 days last month.

Police and witnesses said between four and six gunmen stormed into WorldCall’s offices, disarmed security guards, ordered employees to leave and then set fire to the place. The blaze gutted the premises but caused no injuries. It also interrupted transmission of Geo News in several parts of the city.

“This attack was an illegal act of censorship and an unacceptable act of intimidation of cable TV operators, who play a key role in freedom of information,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk.

“Cable TV operators have already been the victims of intimidation in the past and now a new threat is hanging over them. The Pakistani authorities have a duty to take this threat seriously and adopt measures to protect them.”

WorldCall had received threats and had reported them to the police but no special measures were taken to protect the company.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) suspended Geo News for 15 days on 6 June after it broadcast claims by its leading anchor, Hamid Mir, that the intelligence agencies were behind the shooting attack in which he was badly injured on 19 April.

Although the 15-day suspension ended a month ago, Geo News still cannot be seen in many parts of Pakistan because threats are deterring cable TV operators from restoring it to the range of channels they offer. On 18 July, for example, an attempt was made to set fire to a cable TV operator in Rahimyar Khan, in the eastern province of Punjab.

Pakistan is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Reporters Without Border

Reporters Without Borders and the Pakistani NGO Freedom Network condemn the four-year jail sentence that an Afghan court has imposed on Pakistani TV reporter Faizullah Khan for illegally crossing into Afghanistan while researching a story on the Taliban.

Announced on 13 July, the sentence was imposed by a military court in the eastern province of Nangarhar that specializes in threats to internal and external security.

The two organizations question the court’s motives for imposing such a heavy sentence. Was it a message to foreign reporters entering Afghanistan without proper travel documents? Or was it a warning to foreign reporters investigating subjects regarded as “sensitive”?

In either case, Reporters Without Borders and Freedom Network call for this utterly disproportionate sentence to be quashed on appeal.

“Such a sentence for a journalist is scandalous and out of all proportion,” said Iqbal Khattak, the executive director of Freedom Network and Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk. “We suspect the intelligence services of being behind this harsh sentence, and we call on the authorities to explain why a military court was used to try an administrative offence.”

Khattak and Ismaïl added: “We also urge the Afghan justice system to take more account of the role of media and journalists as guardians of public interest, and we call for a more relaxed visa regime for reporters, including the possibility of visas on arrival.”

Khan, who works for the Karachi-based TV station ARY News, was arrested by the Afghan authorities in Nangarhar in April after travelling to Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, to interview Taliban leaders and then suddenly losing contact with his colleagues.

His arrest in Afghanistan was reported by the Pakistani media on 5 May. Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) was subsequently said to suspect him of spying but no formal charge was brought against him.

The issue of the Taliban is often a source of tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with each country accusing the other of being “lax” towards the Taliban or even being directly involved in the terrorist actions that affect both countries.

Afghanistan is ranked 128th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

The decision was taken in response to a defence ministry complaint to PEMRA accusing Geo News of waging a “vicious campaign, libellous and scandalous in nature” after its star talk show presenter Hamid Mir was badly injured in a targeted shooting on 19 April.

PEMRA also ordered Geo News to pay a fine of 10 million rupees (75,000 euros) within 15 days, failing which the suspension would remain in effect, and warned that any further breach of regulations could result in its licence being permanently withdrawn.

“Suspending a TV station’s licence is a grave violation of freedom of information especially when it is the country’s leading news channel,” Reporters Without Borders said.

The suspension follows a major smear campaign against Geo News that began after it broadcast claims that the intelligence agencies were behind the attack on Mir. Both the defence ministry and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s leading intelligence agency, responded by accusing Geo New of being “anti-state.”

On 20 May, several PEMRA members ordered the closure of Geo News and two of its sister channels, Geo Tez and Geo Entertainment, and the withdrawal of their licences, but they were immediately overruled by other PEMRA members.

Geo News has meanwhile announced its intention of suing the ISI over the “anti-state” accusation and seeking 500 million dollars in damages. It is also calling on the defence ministry, the ISI and PEMRA to public apologize to the media group and its employees for the accusations.

The Pakistani media are operating in a steadily deteriorating environment, with threats, intimidation attempts, attacks and torching of newspaper distribution trucks becoming increasingly frequent.

Pakistan is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Reporters Without Borders

Aaheer, who reports for the Daily Jang newspaper in Multan, in the eastern province of Punjab, was attacked on his way home by gunmen, who beat him with the butts of their pistols, causing serious injuries.

“The attacks on Aaheer and the newspaper trucks were clearly designed to intimidate media workers and deter them from doing their work,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk. “Pakistan is already one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists and these constant attacks just reinforces the feeling of danger in which they have to operate.”

The latest attacks have come at a particularly tense moment for the media, which have been the target of a major smear campaign ever since the TV news station Geo News broadcast claims by its leading anchor, Hamid Mir, that the intelligence agencies were behind a shooting attack in which he was badly injured on 19 April.

As the Daily Jang is part of the same media group as Geo News, it is also one of the main targets of the campaign of smears and intimidation. Cable TV operators briefly suspended transmission of Geo TV after receiving threatening letters and in some cases also bullets.

The masked gunmen who attacked Aaheer on 31 May, smashing the window of his car, called him an “agent of the Indians and the Jews” and said: “You have escaped earlier and now you can’t.” A threatening letter sent to Daily Jang employees on 5 May urged them to leave this “traitor” media group and demanded the closure of its Peshawar offices.

Attacks on newspaper trucks

One of the most recent attacks on newspaper distribution trucks was in Rawalpindi on 30 May, when a dozen unidentified individuals armed with pistols and Kalashnikovs intercepted a truck with copies of The News bound for Islamabad.

They told the driver to get out if he wanted to save his life. When he refused to move, they opened fire without hitting the truck and then soaked it with kerosene and set it on fire. Similar methods were used in an attack on a truck carrying hundreds of copies of the Daily Jang and The News on 25 May.

The driver of a satellite news-gathering van was attacked and tortured by three individuals on 23 May before managing to escape. They doused the vehicle with gasoline but, before they could set it on fire, police arrived and they fled shouting death threats.

A similar attack was reported on a truck carrying thousands of copies of the Jang newspaper in Karachi. The driver was not hurt.

These attacks have forced the targeted newspapers to reprint many thousands of copies.

In response to the constant threats and harassment, the lead story on Geo News and in Jang on 26 May was an apology to the intelligence agencies for their coverage of the shooting attack on Hamid Mir, which they described as “excessive, distressful and emotional.”

Pakistan is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Reporter Without Border

ISLAMABAD: While the Defense Ministry wants to ban Geo and Jang Group newspapers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thursday showed some compassion when it condemned attack on Hamid Mir.

At the weekly media briefing, the spokesperson was reminded that the US State Department, Reporters without Borders and the Amnesty International had condemned the brutal attack on known anchor Hamid Mir.

“I don’t think anyone in this room or outside would condone what happened in Karachi. We condemn the attack on Hamid Mir and wish him a speedy recovery,” the spokesperson responded in a room full of working journalists from Pakistani’s print and electronic media.

The spokesperson also advised Pakistanis to focus on the country’s internal issues before commenting on foreign institutions.To a query about “provocative” statements by the Indian and other international media houses (who have merely carried statements by Mir’s family who pointed finger at a particular Pakistani institution) on the life attempt, the spokesperson replied: “As regards the negative reporting, obviously there is a tendency to indulge in propaganda against Pakistan.

You talked about the negative propaganda in the Indian media; it has not surprised us. It should not surprise anyone.”As regards the international media criticising our institutions, this is baseless. We all need to focus on our internal issues, before we start commenting on institutions and situations in other countries”.

IRAN: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be visiting Iran before May 15 at a time. The spokesperson said high-level interaction and engagements were continuing to make it a substantive visit which would include senior Iranian officials visiting Pakistan.

“The Iranian interior minister is likely to visit Pakistan. The dates are being finalised. It is not true that it was scheduled and then cancelled. The dates have not been finalized as yet. The visit is likely to take place, probably before the prime minister’s visit to Iran,” added the spokesperson.

KASHMIR: Elections taking part in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are not an alternative to the exercise of right to self-determination by the people of Kashmir.“This is the position of the United Nations Security Council resolutions as well that any elections in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are not an alternative to the exercise of Kashmiris right to self-determination,” explained the spokesperson.

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