Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Michel Temer, President of Brazil has expressed concern over the unjustified incidents of harassing and defaming Encontro reporter Marina Dias on social networking sites.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter, denounced this act and urged the Brazilian government to investigate all such incidents of harassment and attacks on journalists.

According to the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI), the reporter was verbally attacked and trolled on Facebook and Twitter for publishing a report, “Ex-wife said to have suffered threat of death from Bolsanaro, says Itamaraty.”

In a case of mistaken identity, Marina Dias, a magazine reporter for Encontro from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, suffered online harassment on social media because she was mistaken with Folha de S.Paulo’s reporter Marina Dias.

Folha’s Dias reported on Tuesday that Jair Bolsonaro’s (PSL) ex-wife, Ana Cristina Valle, claimed in 2011 to a Brazilian diplomat in Norway that she received death threats from her former husband, currently running for president in the upcoming October general elections. Valle afterward denied on social media that the conversation ever happened.

Bolsonaro’s followers including renowned comedian Danilo Gentili and writer Flavio Gordon shared a picture of the Encontro journalist with offensive comments.

According to ABRAJI, personal data like telephone number, email address, date of birth and personal photos of the Belo Horizonte Marina Dias were all leaked on social media.

Rubens Valente, who worked on the story with Folha’s Dias was also the target of verbal abuse and his picture was also posted with derogatory remarks.

ABRAJI further added that, the increasing number of harassment cases against journalists has motivated the organization to publish a booklet, titled “How to deal with harassment against journalists on networks”, launched in August this year.

RAWALPINDI. In a joint meeting held here at Rawalpindi Press Club on Saturday, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists(RIUJ), National Press Club (NPC), Court, Crime & City Reporters Association (CCCRA) showed grave concern over the ever-increasing attacks on journalists.

The meeting was largely attended by members of journalist community including senior journalists.

The joint meeting strongly condemned attacks on working journalists and warned Rawalpindi administration to wake up soon otherwise they would be answerable to National Assembly and Senate. The elected representatives strongly condemned attack by Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) officials on senior reporter of daily ‘The News’ Khalid Iqbal, by the New Town Police on Mansoor Satti of 92 channel, and attack on senior journalist Sardar Mumtaz and several other incidents.

RIUJ General Secretary Bilal Dar in his address strongly condemned attacks on journalists and warned Rawalpindi administration to realise the excesses on journalists.

“They should take up this seriously otherwise we will be forced to stage a massive protest outside the Parliament,” warned Bilal Dar. He further said that according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Pakistan is one of the leading countries where those who attack journalists are not arrested. It was surprising that after thrashing, abusing and degrading a journalist, the culprits wanted to make amends by apologising behind closed doors, RIUJ General Secretary added.

National Press Club (NPC) Senior Joint Secretary Iqbal Malik has strongly condemned attacks on journalist community during their professional duties. He urged upon the government to take up this matter otherwise it would create unrest. He added that attacks on journalists were increasing by the day here in Rawalpindi but concerned authorities looked the other way.

Court, Crime & City Reporters Association (CCCRA) President Gulzar Khan and General Secretary Shahid Malik strongly condemned such shameful incidents. They asked of the higher authorities to take up the matter seriously otherwise journalist community would start protest demonstrations in front of Parliament House.

The News

After five years of working in Pakistan documenting the intimate daily lives of women and children, the London-based NOOR photographer has now become the target of death threats after her work was published in a national British newspaper. “This weekend, some of these stories were published for the first time in The Guardian magazine and online. I received a lot of hate mail and I’ve seen a lot of people erode my credibility on social media. They were intent on trying to destroy me.”

Fazzina was due to travel to Pakistan on Nov. 20, but she has since received warnings from diplomatic sources about “a credible and direct threat against my life,” she says. “I’ve taken risks in Pakistan, but they were very weighted up risks,” she says. “I don’t want to kill myself for a story.” Now, she feels, fear has caught up to her in London.

Fazzina started her career as a frontline photographer covering under reported conflicts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Northern Uganda. “Over the years, my work has changed” she says, “It’s gone on instead to look at the consequences and fallout of wars.”

In 2008, after working on a long-term project in Somalia, she moved to Pakistan. “When I arrived, the effects of extremism were really starting to hit home,” she says. “One of the first things I did was to cover what was essentially Pakistan’s first frontline in the tribal areas. It was the first time that Pakistan’s military had engaged and began an operation against the Taliban there.”

Pakistan has been facing conflicts on multiple fronts – from separatist movements in Balochistan to homegrown Pakistani Taliban factions spreading violence across the country and all the way to Karachi – in June, 28 people were killed in a coordinated attack at Jinnah International Airport in the country’s economic capital.

Fazzina’s ambition was to document the consequences of these conflicts. “What I want to get across is how much civilians suffer and to try and tell their stories, to show what the real effects of war are away from the frontlines,” she says. “Millions of people in Pakistan are still suffering now, and they’re not getting any assistance.”

In her photographs, Fazzina has tried to avoid pointing the finger at one particular culprit, instead putting the blame on all participants. “I’ve covered victims of collateral damage, victims of airstrikes, victims of drone strikes. I covered people suffering from the military, from foreign intervention in region and also from the Taliban. I’ve tried to cover victims of war from all sides because I believe that in any theater of war, all players are responsible.”

After diplomatic sources in Islamabad warned her of the threat on her life from local extremist groups, Fazzina has been forced to cancel a planned trip to Pakistan where she was to report on maternal health. “I take this threat very seriously. There is a strong possibility if I return I will be killed simply for having documented what are realities on the ground” she says. “But, I won’t be silenced by this threat.”

Fazzina’s situation isn’t unique, she explains, as Pakistani journalists and photographers constantly risk their lives to document their country. “It’s extremely difficult for journalists to report without facing some kind of a risk – be it threats, harassment, or even expulsion from the country by the state,” says Mustafa Qadri, a researcher at Amnesty International. “We’ve certainly seen this year a number of high-profile attacks on journalists, which seems to be in response to their work being critical of the government, Taliban, or political parties. What brings all of these cases together is the fact that there’s no justice, there’s no accountability. That basically sends a signal that if you’re not happy with what journalists are reporting, you can literally get away with murder.”

Since 2008, Amnesty International has documented 36 cases of journalists who were killed in response to their work, with many more cases of harassment remaining undocumented. The Committee to Protect Journalists has been trying to fight this problem, says Bob Dietz, the Asian program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Everyone feels that they have total impunity to direct a threat towards a journalist. Foreign journalists aren’t the largest targets for these things; it’s really the local Pakistani journalists who bear the brunt of it. A Pakistani journalist awakes in the morning, opens his phone and check for messages and there might well be a string of threats in there. It’s a way of life. It’s a reality that people are dealing with.”

“We’ve tried to combat it,” Dietz adds. “[We’ve asked] journalists not to hide these threats, and instead to bring them out in public as a way to disarm them.” Yet, the CPJ and Amnesty International don’t expect such menaces to subside, including those against Fazzina. “We really welcome the work that she did,” says Qadri. “We feel that not enough is done to expose the condition of women and girls in Pakistan; what ordinary life is for them. It’s really sad that in trying to do that, she’s now facing these kinds of threats.”

For the 40-year-old photographer, these threats are indicative of a massive shift in war reporting. “The landscape has really changed from fundamentalist groups wanting to tell their stories to journalists becoming actual targets of these groups,” says Fazzina. “In some way, the voices that can speak out against human rights abuses are slowly being silenced. And people would rather shoot the messenger than acknowledged the actual state of [affairs].”

Alixandra Fazzina is a London-based photographer represented by NOOR.

Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent

Source: TIME

A delegation led by PFUJ former president Pervaiz Shaukat handed over an open letter from the IFJ and the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN) to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the United Nations in Pakistan on Sunday, November 2 – the inaugural International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. The IFJ and SAMSN as well as a list of international activists and organisations, wrote to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, calling on him to recognise November 2 as a National Day Against Impunity in Pakistan and to make concerted efforts to bring to an end to the country’s entrenched culture of impunity for journalist killings.

The PFUJ and its affiliates across Pakistan also held rallies, awareness lectures, and candle vigils in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Hyderabad, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat and Abbottabad.

The PFUJ also marked November 3 as a day to condemn the illegitimate act of imposing emergency rule under former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf and reiterated its pledge to defend the independence of media and democracy in future.

Over the past decade, Pakistan has consistently been ranked one of the most dangerous places on the planet to practice journalism. The targeting of journalists, including verbal and written threats, physical attacks, kidnappings and killings have been alarmingly high in Pakistan. The United Nations has listed Pakistan as a country needing special attention and supportive action to combat impunity against journalists, when it was included among the five pilot countries for implementation of its ‘UN Action Plan on Attacks on Journalists and Issues of Impunity.

See the IFJ’s infographic on Pakistan here.

The PFUJ said: “We will keep on raising voice against the crimes and unjust done with the journalists and put pressure on the government to end impunity against the journalists of the country and make efforts to provide a safe atmosphere to work and enjoy freedom of expression in the country.”

This year, 13 journalists and media workers have been killed in Pakistan and many more threatened, intimidated and attacked. Nearly 60 journalists have been killed in the last six years and more than 100 since 2000.

The IFJ Asia Pacific acting director Jane Worthington said: “Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world right now for journalists and the situation has undoubtedly worsened due to high level of impunity for crimes against media workers. Pakistan must respond to global calls and make immediate efforts to bring an end to the culture of impunity that leaves so many media workers exposed and in doing so threatens the future integrity of a free and independent media.”

International Federation of Journalists

These claimants of democracy and the rule of law harassed and manhandled fourth the pillar of democracy to stop them for the objective coverage of the sit-ins. The wrath of these party workers was not limited to only one channel or one gender, but they also harassed a woman journalist, and attacked at least one dozen journalists and supporting staff, besides harming their vehicles and equipment.

The journalists who were harassed and manhandled by the workers of opposition as well as a ruling party, belonged to Aaj TV, ARY News, Geo TV and Samaa TV. These sad attacks on journalists have raised eyebrows of the community across the country and internationally.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sit-in would have tapered off had the media not been giving extensive coverage to the party chairman’s speeches daily that often ended late evening.

The angry workers are at a loss to understand that the working journalists have to cover and report the issues and events irrespective of what different sections of society may or may not like to read or watch. More importantly the political actors need journalists as much to tell their stories as do the journalists to report such stories. Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy. Media makes people aware of various social, political and economical activities happening around the world. It is like a mirror, which shows or strives to show the truth and harsher realities. If media persons close their eyes the government officials will openly do what they want.

First of all to confront a harsh situation was Geo TV as their reporters Azaz Syed, Arshad Waheed, Farhat Jabeen (a woman journalist) and Saif-ur-Rehman and cameramen Shabbir Ahmed and Khurram Shehzad while covering the sit-in on 16th August came across an unfriendly crowed of PTI. The same crowed had given a warm welcome to the reporters and supporting staff of ARY News channel that day, as they thought that channel was giving them their desired coverage.

A PTI activist, Gulfam Khan Pathan, a joint secretary of union council of Hamsheerian district Mansehra of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province had said that since their leader Imran Khan had boycotted Geo TV therefore its staff deserved the treatment.

The chief coordinator of PML-N, Siddiq Farooq, at that time termed the manhandling of the TV team ‘undemocratic attitude’.

Jang group has yet claimed that as many as eight reporters, cameramen and drivers had been assaulted by the workers of PTI recently.

Khan, who had in his speeches unintentionally instigated his charged workers against Jang group, condemned after a couple of days on 18th August, the attacks by his workers on Geo reporters.

Geo TV’s digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) van once again came under attack on 21st August right after two days of Khan’s condemning such act by PTI workers. The woman reporter, Farhat Javed, and other media staff were sitting in the van to cover the latest situation of the sit-in. However, due to the attack they had to flee to their office without performing their duties.

Not only opposition marchers were among the attackers but supporters of ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had their share also in adding another incident of ‘undemocratic attitude’. Babar Malik of ARY News was attacked by a group of political activists on 21st while covering the Pakistan Muslim League-N rally brought out by its local leaders. The journalist said: “First the angry activists abused the television channel and its anchors and then they started beating me. Although I was not injured seriously, I suffered various bruises.”

The victim demanded the government to provide security to the on-duty journalists as they cannot perform duties under such hostile circumstances.

A Samaa TV crew was also harassed on 24th August at the march by workers who also confiscated their footage.

Aaj TV team was attacked by PTI workers who were managing security arrangements of the demo outside the Parliament House on 24th October. They demanded to check the channel’s DSNG and on denial they climbed the van and roughed up the reporters and support staff. At least four crew members from Aaj News including DSNG engineer Iqbal, cameramen, Usmaan, Iqbal and Samaarat were attacked.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) at ‘Pro-democracy’ camp on 25th August had deprecated the undemocratic acts of what it called ‘container politicians’ to attack journalists and said that such sit-ins had put an adverse effect on the national economy and paralyzed the capital city including its educational institutes.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also called on all sides to respect the role of journalists and media workers. “We note that the organizers of the ‘Freedom March’ have condemned these attacks but they must do more to control their supporters and ensure the safety of journalists covering the protests,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

Pakistan Press Foundation

Speaking at the ‘Pro-democracy’ camp set up in front of National Press Club (NPC) by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) they said a few thousand people have paralysed the capital city that is causing adverse effects on the national economy.

Scores of traders, businessmen, students and social activists continued to visit the camp and expressed their support for democracy in the country. They also condemned attacks on journalists by workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).

PFUJ president Afzal Butt said all educational institutions in the capital city have been closed due to protest sit-ins and thousands of students are looking towards the politicians for a solution to this mess that is adversely affecting their studies.

“Given the internal and external challenges confronting Pakistan the ‘container’ politicians should show some kind of political maturity and join hands for betterment of the country,” he said. He strongly condemned the attack on the media team of Aaj Television and said had the PTI leadership taken action against those who harassed reporters and cameramen of Geo News this incident would not have happened on Sunday. Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) president Ali Raza Alvi said the journalists’ community always stands by democracy and pro-democracy forces so it is not a matter of personal liking and disliking but a principled stance to strengthen democratic institutions in Pakistan.“The pro-democracy camp has helped make all segments of society aware of the importance of strengthening democratic institutions because these can steer Pakistan towards progress and prosperity,” he said.

RIUJ secretary general Bilal Dar said the politicians should not lose patience and come to table to find out a viable and amicable solution to the political crisis. Social activist Ashfaq Saleem Mirza said it is highly appreciable that almost all main parliamentary parties have joined hands to protect democracy and rejected those forces hatching conspiracies against the democratic process.

Senior journalist Abdul Wahid said the journalists across Pakistan are united and vow to put in all their efforts to protect democracy for which a number of journalists faced imprisonments and suffered lashes in the dictatorial regimes.

Human rights activist Farkhanda Aurangzeb said the ‘dharna’ politicians have raised their concerns and recorded their protest so now they should return to their homes and let the people resume their normal life.

Rawalpindi Islamabad Bureau Journalists Association (RIBJA) president Amir Butt said the federation of Pakistan is facing threats but some political elements are showing immature behaviour that is further aggravating the situation.

Former PPP MPA Nargis Faiz Malik said former President Asif Ali Zardari introduced politics of reconciliation and for the first time in the political history an elected government completed its term and handed over the power to the coming government. Later, Alia Mirza and Ali Jawad recited poems and singer Awais presented national songs.

The News

“We note that the organizers of the ‘Freedom March’ have condemned these attacks but they must do more to control their supporters and ensure the safety of journalists covering the protests,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “Whatever message demonstrators are trying to convey, it’s unlikely that beating reporters and news crews is going to do the job.”

At least four crew members from Aaj News, including digital satellite news gathering engineer Iqbal, cameramen Usmaan, Iqbal, and Samaarat, (identified by single names only) were beaten today by workers from the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party while covering a speech by PTI leader Imran Khan during a sit-in in the capital Islamabad, the private news channel reported. The four were treated in hospital for minor injuries, reports said.

Journalist and International Press Freedom awardee Umar Cheema, who has documented the attacks, told CPJ by email that those involved were PTI workers. News broadcasts showed the attackers wearing orange jackets that identified them as official workers who had been brought in to manage the march.

In recent days, tens of thousands of demonstrators have participated in the demonstration, which has traveled from Lahore to Islamabad, and was organized by the PTI and the anti-government cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over allegations of electoral fraud.

A Samaa TV crew were also harassed at the march by workers who confiscated their footage on Sunday after covering claims that a woman was harassed at the sit-in, according to news reports and tweets by Gharidah Farooqi, a journalist with the private news channel.

In a separate incident, journalist Babar Malik from the private news channel ARY News, was beaten by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supporters on Thursday while covering a rally that PML-N had organized to show solidarity with Sharif, according to reports. Local PML-N leaders Hanif Abbasi and Ziaullah Shah helped rescue Malik, who was bruised but not seriously injured during the attack in the Faizabad area of Rawalpindi. The news channel said he was attacked for having reported on the opposition rally.

Between August 15 and 16, several journalists and media workers from the privately owned Geo TV were also assaulted or harassed while covering the PTI-led rally, according to news reports and Cheema.

Along the route of the march a crowd began kicking and striking a Geo digital satellite news gathering van with batons while staff, including reporters Arshad Waheed and Farhat Jabeen, were inside. They warned the crew they would set fire to the vehicle if they did not leave the area within 10 minutes, according to reports.

Demonstrators snatched a mic from Geo reporter Azaz Syed when he was about to go on-air while covering the event from the Zero Point interchange in the capital, Islamabad. The demonstrators then surrounded Syed and forced him to flee, according to reports.

PTI party workers attacked Saif-ur-Rehman, another Geo journalist, forcing him to flee. As Rehman set up his mic, which displayed a logo for Geo TV, a group of men approached him from behind. One of them pounced on him and started yelling: “Get lost. You work for the traitor channel,” Cheema told CPJ. GEO TV cameraman Shabbir Ahmed had his camera broken by PTI workers and another cameraman, Khurram Shehzad, was beaten and had his equipment damaged, according to reports.

The PTI condemned the attacks on journalists and Khan apologized, according to news reports and the International Federation of Journalists. But The News International reported that Khan had criticized Geo News and the Jang group, Pakistan’s largest newspaper company, during a speech on Saturday night, saying: “You are making propaganda against me.”

In a separate incident, unidentified men who appeared intoxicated, attacked an ARY News team in Rawalpindi along the rally route from Lahore to Islamabad on August 14, according to the news channel. PTI party workers intervened and helped lead the crew, who have not been named, to a safer location. A driver for the channel, who was not named in news reports, was taken to a hospital to be treated for head injuries.

Committee to Protect Journalists

It comes after some violent retaliation to journalists by the cadres of the Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during their political rally last weekend. On the first two days of the rally, as many as eight journalists and media workers were targeted.

According to reports, Azaz Syed of Geo TV was forced to leave the venue after he was abused and his microphone was snatched away. Journalists Arshad Waheed and Farhat Jabeen were among media workers who locked themselves in the Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) van after cadres started kicking on the van and warned to leave within minutes on Friday, August 15.

On Saturday, August 16, Arshad and Saif-ur-Rehman were attacked and forced to flee the rally venue; and cameraman Shabbir Ahmed’s camera was broken. The PTI chairman Imran Khan, in a public speech, also accused Jang Group newspapers of propaganda against him – a move that the IFJ said could in effect escalate violence against journalists in the current environment.

The IFJ and the PFUJ call on the media to remain vigilant about safety of journalists and media workers. The PFUJ issued an advisory to journalists covering ongoing political movements in Islamabad to perform their duties in a safe way.

Although, the PTI later condemned attacks on journalists and assured that such incidents would not be repeated, the IFJ and the PFUJ urges journalists to remain cautious and prioritise safety.

The PFUJ said in a statement: “Journalists should do his duty with full responsibility but keep the safety priority as well. The duty has always been our prime responsibility but one should be careful and keep personal security in mind as well.”

The IFJ urges Pakistani journalists to follow the IFJ Safety Guidelines. Initiates file downloadDownload Here.

The IFJ Asia-Pacific Acting Director, Jane Worthington, said: “Pakistani journalists have long been working in one of the most hostile working environments for media. Attacks on journalists while they are merely performing duties is a condemnable act and the political parties should understand that holding different opinions is the beauty of democracy and free press should be allowed to report independently without biases.”

International Federation of Journalists

Shan Dahar, reporter of “Abb Takk” TV channel was shot on the night of December 31 in Badh, in Larkana district of Sindh province of Pakistan.  He was shot in his back and was taken to the hospital where he remained unattended until he succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of January 1.  He is survived by two minor daughters.

In a statement, PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali said despite compelling evidence pointing the cause of his killing being his reporting on use of fake medicines in local hospitals, police report declared his death as accidental.

The PPF statement said the flawed police report could sabotage any hope for proper investigation and  prosecution for the assailants and called on the government to formally order credible reinvestigation of the attack.

Dahar’s family feels frustrated that despite verbal promises, police reinvestigation has not yet started.

The statement also called for public release of the reports of the medical committees to investigate criminal negligence of hospital where Dahar lay unattended despite frantic pleas by his sisters for hospital doctors to go to the hospital to treat his life threatening wounds.

The PPF Press Freedom Award carries a cash award of Rs. 100,000 (US dollars 1,000).

PPF

‘A bullet has been chosen for you’: Attacks on journalists in Pakistan, describes how the Pakistani authorities have almost completely failed to stem human rights abuses against media workers or to bring those responsible to account.

Amnesty International has documented 34 cases of journalists being killed in Pakistan in response to their work since the restoration of democratic rule in 2008, but only in one case have the perpetrators been brought to justice.

But these killings are just the most brutal statistic – many more journalists have been threatened, harassed, abducted, tortured or escaped assassination attempts in the same period.

“Pakistan’s media community is effectively under siege. Journalists, in particular those covering national security issues or human rights, are targeted from all sides in a disturbing pattern of abuses carried out to silence their reporting,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.
“The constant threat puts journalists in an impossible position, where virtually any sensitive story leaves them at risk of violence from one side or another.”

The report is based on extensive field research into over 70 cases and interviews with over 100 media workers in Pakistan. It examines several recent cases where journalists have been targeted for their reporting by a range of actors.

Numerous journalists interviewed by Amnesty International complained of harassment or attacks by individuals they claimed were connected to the feared military spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). While some are featured in the report with names changed, others could not be included even under a false name because they feared for their lives.

The spy agency has been implicated in several abductions, torture and killings of journalists, but no serving ISI officials has ever been held to account – allowing it to effectively operate beyond the reach of the law. Human rights violations against journalists by the ISI often follow a familiar pattern that starts with threatening phone calls and escalates into abductions, torture and other ill-treatment, and in some cases killings.

Journalists are also victims of human rights abuses by non-state groups across the country. Aggressive competition for media space means that powerful political actors across the country put severe pressure on journalists for favourable coverage. In Karachi, supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) religious group and others stand accused of harassing or killing journalists they consider critical.

In conflict-ridden regions in the northwest and Balochistan province, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and ethnic Baloch armed groups openly threaten reporters with death and attack them in retaliation for seeking to highlight their abuses or not promoting their ideology. Journalists in Pakistan’s heartland of the Punjab have also faced threats from the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi-linked groups.

Despite the wave of violence and attacks, the Pakistani authorities have largely failed to hold perpetrators to account. In the overwhelming number of cases researched by Amnesty International, authorities rarely adequately investigated threats or attacks or brought those responsible to justice.
Only in a handful of high-profile cases have more thorough investigations been carried out, and only after public outrage has made it impossible for authorities not to act.

“The government has promised to improve the dire situation for journalists, including by establishing a public prosecutor tasked with investigating attacks against journalists. But few concrete steps have been taken,” said David Griffiths.

“A critical step will be for Pakistan to investigate its own military and intelligence agencies and ensure that those responsible for human rights violations against journalists are brought to justice. This will send a powerful signal to those who target journalists that they no longer have free reign.”

Media enterprises operating in Pakistan must also ensure they provide adequate training, support and assistance to journalists, in an important, practical step towards addressing the risk of abuses while they are at work.

“Without these urgent steps, Pakistan’s media could be intimidated into silence. The climate of fear has already had a chilling effect on freedom of expression and the broader struggle to expose human rights abuses across Pakistan,” said David Griffiths.

Amnesty International