KARACHI: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that in Pakistan last year’s conviction of six suspects for the assassination of Geo Television reporter Wali Khan Babar would herald a new dawn for journalists have dwindled in the face of fresh violence and the leadership’s failure to implement a series of commitments to CPJ to address impunity.
According to the latest “CPJ’s 2015 Global Impunity Index Report, three journalists have been slain since the last index period, bringing Pakistan’s total to 22 for the most recent decade. They include Shan Dahar who was gunned down while investigating illegal sales of aid medicine at a local hospital.
With the exception of Babar’s case, impunity remains the norm in these murders and in a slew of recent, non-fatal attacks, such as the shooting that gravely injured popular news anchor Hamid Mir. Threats to journalists stream from military and intelligence agencies, political parties, criminal groups and militants, and corrupt local leaders.
Pakistan is a focus country for the UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists and issue of Impunity, an initiative that has improved dialogue and coordination among civil society, media, and the government but not yet led to any significant reduction in impunity. Impunity Index Rating Pakistan 0.119 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants, Last year Ranked 9th with a rating of 0.123.