Karachi: The murder of a satellite engineer of Geo News on Tuesday night and then a journalist formerly associated with the channel on Wednesday morning has left media personnel worried about their safety.

Analysts believe that although target killings have reduced in Karachi following the crackdown against criminals, journalists are still soft targets.

On Tuesday night, two men fired gunshots at a Geo News digital satellite news gathering van in Bahadurabad, killing satellite engineer Arshad Ali Jaffery and injuring the driver.

Then on Wednesday morning, Aftab Alam, a journalist formerly associated with Geo News, was shot dead outside his house in North Karachi, the second attack on person affiliated with the media in less than 24 hours.

Over the years, Karachi has gained notoriety for being the most dangerous city in Pakistan.

Ethno-political, sectarian, Taliban militant and criminal violence plagues the country’s largest city and commercial hub.

However, recent statistics released by independent bodies including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Centre for Research and Security Studies show that the overall security situation in the city has improved following the ongoing law enforcement agencies’ operation.

But journalists in the city still face serious security threats.

Journalists and office-bearers of their associations say that media personnel are not only facing threats from some political parties, Taliban militants, sectarian groups and criminal gang, but law enforcement personnel too.

Different threats

Aamir Latif, a journalist and former general secretary of the Karachi Press Club, said these threats were of different kinds. Besides, they were delivered in different ways.

“Unlike in Balochistan or FATA, journalists in Karachi don’t face a generalised threat.

The recent killing of two media personnel indicates that everyone, from a field reporter to a journalist on the desk or on the technical side, can be targeted,” Latif told The News. He added that the headquarters of all major media houses were located in Karachi.

Recently, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based international media rights body, ranked Pakistan at 159 out of 180 countries here media freedom suffered a “drastic decline” in the 2015 World Press Index with a score of 50.46.

Iqbal Khattak, the RSF’s Pakistan representative, said Karachi was the most dangerous city for journalists because of its large population and chaotic situation, where a number of actors were involved in violence.

“In other troubled parts of the country, including Balochistan and FATA, we know the key actors who target journalists, but in Karachi, the situation is totally different,” he explained.

“It’s very difficult to find out which elements are targeting journalists in the city and that increases the threat level.”

Khattak said the recent trends needed to be studied to understand which actors could be behind the attacks on media personnel in Karachi.

Media outlets

Analysts also stressed the need for media outlets to ensure that security protocols were followed.

Latif said journalists in Karachi cover the ongoing law enforcement agencies’ crackdown, gang clashes, sectarian violence and ethnic polarisation as their organisations push them to provide exclusive footage and breaking news.

“Only a few TV channels have provided their reporters with flak jackets and there is no security for most of them,” he added.

Khattak said journalists themselves needed to calculate the level of risk they were putting themselves into.

“If a journalist doesn’t know what is going on in their surroundings, they can’t ascertain the level of threat,” he added.

Besides, many reporters are not trained for working in conflict zones or hostile environments, and so are unable to take precautionary steps.

In case of firing or a bomb blast, reporters and cameramen rush to the scene for exclusive footage. The stiff competition between TV news channels puts their lives at risk.

Journalists said the role of law enforcement agencies in terms of providing them with protection was also disappointing.

Despite receiving complaints from journalists, the law enforcers do not take serious steps for their security.

The News

PESHAWAR/LANDI KOTAL: A tribal journalist hailing from Khyber Agency sustained injuries when an unidentified person opened firing on him in the limits of Hayatabad police station here late on Tuesday, police said.

The tribal journalist Abdul Azam Shinwari, a resident of Landi Kotal, works for the state news agency APP and Pakistan Television.

A police official told Dawn that the journalist was on his way home in Phase-III Hayatabad when he was stopped by an unidentified person. The person told him that he had come to invite him to a function at journalism department and later asked him to drop him at some distance from his home.

The journalist told police that a car and motorcycle were also following his car. On the way, the attacker told the journalist that his car had a flat tyre and when he came out of check it, he fired at him thrice.

Mr Shinwari was later rushed to Hayatabad Medical Complex. He is said to be in stable condition. The journalist sustained three bullet injuries in legs. The attacker managed to escape.

Saddam Shinwari, the son of injured journalist, told reporters that the attacker asked his father to give him lift till phase-IV area of Hayatabad and after covering some distance opened firing on him.

A senior police official told Dawn that police were investigating the case, however, it would be premature to jump to conclusion. He said that they were looking into the incident in the light of the victim’s statement.

The official said that it was puzzling as to why the attacker shot him in feet when he could easily shoot him in the head. He said that the victim had not told them about having enmity, but they would look into it as well.

Hayatabad police registered a case and started investigation.

The journalists in Khyber Agency held a demonstration at Bab-i-Khyber in Jamrud on Wednesday to protest the attack on their colleague.

Holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding arrest of the attackers and security for their colleagues, the tribal journalists chanted slogans in support of their demands and blocked the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway for a short while.

Speaking on the occasion, senior member of Tribal Union of Journalists Sailab Mehsud said that tribal journalists were not safe in Peshawar even after fleeing their respective tribal regions for insecurity. He demanded of the authorities to arrest the attacker within one week and made the inquiry report public so that the cause of the attack could be known.

Landi Kotal Press Club president Ali Shinwari said that protest demonstrations would be held outside Governor’s House in Peshawar and Parliament House in Islamabad if the government failed to apprehend the culprits within a week.

Dawn