ISLAMABAD   – The parents of Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Bureau Chief for South Asia, Friday submitted that the Supreme Court majority judgment suffers from a misreading and non-reading of the evidence on the record and misapplication of the law.

Ruth and Judea, parents of Daniel Pearl, stated this in a review petition filed before the apex court through advocate Faisal Siddiqui against the SC majority judgment dated 26.03.2021, which declared that the whole prosecution evidence is full of doubts and it has failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons, namely Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib, Sheikh Muhammad Adil and Ahmed Omar Sheikh.

However, Justice Yahya Afridi, who was part of a three-judge bench, in his separate judgment held that the prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ahmed Omar Sheikh and Fahad Naseem have committed the offences under Section 365-A, PPC, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and Section 120-B, PPC, thus, they are convicted for the said offences and sentenced to life imprisonment on each count.

The SC bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprised Justice Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi on January 20, 2021 in majority decision with 2-1 had turned down the appeals of Sindh government and Daniel Pearl’s parents.

The petition of Daniel’s parents submitted that the complainant, Marianne Pearl, wife of Daniel Pearl, fully cooperated during the investigation. It is further submitted that it was not necessary for the Complainant to produce the laptop on which she received the emails as the email were neither challenged during the recording of evidence, nor at the time of recording of Statement of the Respondent No.2 and accused Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib, under Section 342, Cr.P.C., 1898.

They added that mere absence of details in the FIR and delay in lodging the FIR is never per se fatal if evidence in the case is trustworthy and reliable and the evidence cannot be discarded merely on the basis of delay in initiating the FIR.

They submitted that in May 2002, a dead body was recovered from Karachi and after verification and identification of the dead body as of Deceased Person (Daniel), it was handed over to the petitioners, and the body was buried in America. However, the identification and burial of the Deceased Person took place after the trial court passed judgment in July, 2002. Therefore, these facts or relevant documents could not be produced before the trial court, which in its judgment gave no finding on the recovery of the body.

The petition said that it is obvious and apparent from the fact that the counsel for the Respondent No.2 (Omar) made an application for attested copy of the Post-mortem Report of Deceased Person and the Trial Court through Order dated: 28.05.2002, allowed the Application.

The petition maintained that the recovery of dead body of the deceased person was never in issue and it was raised for the first time when the Sindh High Court based its Judgment dated: 02.04.2020, on the premise that death of deceased person was not proved as his body was not recovered and as a consequence, the entire evidence regarding the identity of deceased person and actions in relation to abduction for ransom and the murder of deceased person were thrown in doubt. Therefore, the petitioners brought the post-mortem report of the allegedly recovered body of the deceased person (Daniel), which was already the part of record of Trial Court, to the notice of this Supreme Court during arguments and also filed DNA Report and pictures of the Deceased Person’s grave before the apex court along with Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 2065 of 2020, which proved that the allegedly recovered body was of the deceased person, namely, Daniel Pearl.

Newspaper: The Nation, Business Recorder

KARACHI: Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, a British-born suspect acquitted recently of kidnapping and murdering US Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl has been shifted to Lahore from Karachi on Thursday. He was shifted to a rest house within the premises of Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail while travelling on a plane. A strict security measures were taken during his departure from Karachi to Lahore. Sheikh’s transfer to Lahore was approved by the Supreme Court last month. His family moved the court to order his transfer to Lahore where they reside. Daniel Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002. Pearl’s wife Marianne Pearl, a US national who was living in Karachi, wrote a letter to the Artillery Maidan police on February 2, 2002, stating that her husband disappeared on January 23, 2002. Earlier in January this year, the Supreme Court ordered authorities to release Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the principal accused in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, dismissing petitions against his release and acquittal (on murder charges) by the Sindh High Court.

Newspaper: The News

The Supreme Court has issued its detailed judgement on the January 2002 brutal murder case of Daniel Pearl, South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal. It may be recalled that in its short order earlier this year, the court had acquitted by a majority two-to-one verdict the principal accused, Umar Sheikh, and three other suspects. The bench was seized of the appeals filed by the distraught parents of the slain journalist and the Sindh government, challenging the April 2020 Sindh High Court’s decision to overturn an anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) conviction of Umar on charges of kidnapping and murder, commuting his death sentence to seven-year rigorous imprisonment along with a Rs 2 million fine. By then he had already served nearly 20 years in solitary confinement.

Recording the reasons for acquittal, author of the judgement Justice Tariq Masood pointed out serious weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, noting that the evidence furnished during the trial was full of factual and legal defects. Regarding each and every piece of evidence, he remarked, doubts were emerging from the mouths of the witnesses. That brought into play a settled legal principle under which the benefit of the doubt goes to an accused. Even if a single circumstance created reasonable doubt in a prudent mind regarding guilt of an accused, observed the honourable justice, an accused is entitled to such benefit, not as a matter of grace and concession but of right, and that such benefits must be extended to the accused persons by courts without reservations. Few can quarrel with this long-honoured principle of justice. However, in his dissenting note, Justice Yahya Afridi approached the case from a different angle, that of a conspiracy, for which, he observed, direct evidence was seldom available. A conspiracy could be established by circumstantial evidence, he wrote, strict proof is not necessary. What is required by Article 23 of the Qanoon-i-Shahadat is that there should be “reasonable grounds” to believe that an accused and the person whose acts, statements or writings are sought to be given in evidence have conspired to commit an offence or an actionable wrong. In his opinion, in the present case, the motive of the accused to carry out the crime was not related to any private dispute with the victims, it clearly was the use of a threat designed to intimidate not only the Government of Pakistan, but also foreign governments and organisations to create a sense of fear and insecurity. Many familiar with the prevailing atmosphere at the time would be nodding in agreement.

The verdict is expected to be discussed and debated widely on its own merits as also its implications for relations with the US, which has been demanding restoration of death sentence initially awarded by an ATC. The US must respect the verdict of this country’s apex court. It should also serve as an instructive lesson for prosecutors who present shoddy evidence before courts and expect the same to be accepted, too.

Newspaper: Business Recorder (Editorial)

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed government authorities to move Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, issued the order while hearing a petition filed by Sheikh, a British national of Pakistani heritage, against his continued detention.

During the hearing, Punjab Additional Advocate-General Faisal Chaudhry informed the court that Sheikh had submitted an application seeking his transfer from Karachi to Lahore, where his family resided. Earlier this week, a Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesperson had said that Sheikh had been shifted from Karachi to Lahore due to “security concerns”.

Justice Bandial suggested that Sheikh could be moved to a GOR (Government Officers Residences) colony, which was a high-security area, directing the Punjab government to facilitate Sheikh in accordance with court orders.

“We are not satisfied with the continuous detention of this person,” the judge remarked, according to AFP.

“The detainee Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh shall be accommodated in a government building in which officers of jail reside.”

Chaudhry, the Punjab government counsel, informed the court that it had been decided to keep Sheikh in a colony of prison staff within the premises of Kot Lakhpat jail, and sought time for the transfer. He said Rangers and police personnel would have to be deployed if he was detained outside the jail.

At this, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah inquired why the government was seeking time if Sheikh was to be kept within the limits of the jail.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan assured the court that Sheikh would be transferred to the Lahore prison within a week.

The lawyer for Sheikh objected to the proposal, saying being held in the prison staff colony was akin to being detained in the jail and would hinder movement. However, the objection was overruled.

At the last hearing of the case on Feb 2, 2021, the Supreme Court had ordered authorities to move Sheikh from his death cell at the Karachi Central Prison to a government rest house with the provision of facilities for a normal life, albeit without access to the outside world through telephone, internet, etc.

The directives were issued after Attorney General Khan and Sindh Advocate General Salman Talibuddin had expressed concern that if Sheikh was released, he would either be taken away or may disappear.

During today’s hearing, the counsel for the men earlier convicted in the case informed the court that Sheikh Muhammad Adil, another former accused, was ill and needed treatment.

The court directed authorities to provide all necessary medical facilities to Adil. It also ordered the federal and provincial governments to submit reports of implementation of its orders in the court chambers.

The hearing of the case was adjourned for two weeks, while the court directed the Punjab chief secretary to appear at the next hearing.

On January 28, the Supreme Court — by a majority of two to one — had upheld the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) acquittal of Sheikh and ordered his release if he was not wanted in any other case.

The court had also directed that all the other accused — Fahad Nasim Ahmed, Syed Salman Saqib and Adil be released forthwith unless they were wanted in any other case.

The Sindh government and parents of the slain journalist had appealed the high court’s decision, but the apex court upheld the acquittal order.

Pearl’s murder and legal action

Wall Street Journal journalist Pearl, 38, was doing research on religious extremism in Karachi when he was abducted in January 2002. A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate a month later. Subsequently, Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by a trial court.

In its April 2, 2020, order, the SHC had overturned Sheikh’s conviction for Pearl’s murder but maintained his conviction on a lesser charge of abetting the kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

As Sheikh had been incarcerated since 2002, that sentence was counted as time already served by the high court. The SHC had also acquitted three other men who had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Karachi anti-terrorism court.

After their acquittal order, the provincial government placed them in 90-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, saying their release posed a threat to security.

On July 1, a fresh notification under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, extended their detention by three months, which was later extended by another 90 days.

But in December, the high court accepted a petition by the men against their continued detention and ordered their immediate release, declaring all notifications of the Sindh government related to their detention “null and void”.

Following the SHC’s order to release the four men, the Sindh government had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to keep them incarcerated, citing threats to national security if they were to walk free.

Newspaper: Dawn, The News, Express Tribune, The Nation, Business Recorder

LAHORE: The sudden death in Islamabad of Maria Golovnina, the Bureau Chief of Reuters in Pakistan and Afghanistan, on Monday, has sparked a lot of speculation and the internet is already littered with rumours regarding the cause of her untimely demise.

Her death is certainly very disturbing for the London-based Reuters, functioning since October 1851, because this globally acclaimed news agency had earlier lost two of its staffers during November 2001 (Afghanistan) and a matching number during 2007 (Iraq).

In 2007, as the April 6, 2010 edition of a prestigious British daily newspaper “The Independent” and the WikiLeaks reveal, US Apache helicopters had killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

The killed Reuters staffers included the media outlet’s photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh.“The Independent” said a classified US military video had confirmed the two deaths.

In November 19, 2001, a Reuters photojournalist Harry Burton (an Australian) was killed in an ambush with a native colleague Azizullah Haidari and two others in Afghanistan.

The other two journalists losing lives in this incident were Julio Fuentes (working for a widely-circulated Spanish newspaper “El Mundo”) and Maria Grazia Cutulli (working for an Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”).

The 34-year old half Russian and half Japanese journalist Maria Golovnina, head of Reuters Afpak (Afghanistan and Pakistan) Bureau, was very fond of the late American actor and comedian Robin Williams, her Facebook page shows.

Maria’s Facebook page further reveals that in November 2014, she had broken a leg in Afghanistan and the three fractures had led to the implantation of two titanium screws in her shinbone.

This is what Maria had written on her Facebook page on November 26, 2014:”So now I am the proud owner of two titanium screws in my shin bone following a 2-hour operation.”She is the second internationally known journalist, after Daniel Pearl, to have died in Pakistan in last 12 years or so.

Daniel Pearl, the South Asia Bureau Chief of the American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal,” was kidnapped and murdered on February 1, 2002 Holder of US and Israeli citizenship, Pearl was actually based in Mumbai but was visiting Pakistan to investigate into the alleged links between the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and Al-Qaeda.

In March 2007, top Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Muhammad had stated at Guantanamo Bay Cuba that he had personally beheaded Pearl, and earlier in July 2002, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh—a British national of Pakistani origin—was sentenced to death by hanging for Pearl’s abduction and murder.

Here follows a list of some of the relatively better-known foreign journalists killed in Afghanistan and elsewhere since 9/11:

In April 4, 2014, a German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus was shot by a man wearing a police officer’s uniform, while this “Associated Press” staffer was covering the country’s 2014 Presidential election.

On March 11, 2014, a Swedish Radio reporter Nils Horner was killed during a talk with his Afghan translator in Kabul.

(Reference: The Guardian, March 11, 2014 edition)

On June 24, 2010, a US military journalist James Hunter was killed while covering a foot patrol.

(Reference: The Military Times)

On January 10, 2010, the British “Sunday Mirror” War Correspondent Rupert Hamer and his photographer were killed while traveling with US troops.

(Reference: The December 26, 2012 edition of The Independent)

On December 30, 2009, a Canadian reporter Michelle Lang (working for the “Calgary Herald”) was killed when a vehicle carrying him and four compatriot soldiers was hit by explosives.

(Reference: The December 30, 2009 report of CBC News)

On January 15, 2008, a Norwegian newspaper journalist Carsten Thomassen was killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel.

(Reference: The January 15, 2008 report of BBC News)

On October 7, 2006, Christian Struwe and Karen Fischer, who worked as freelance documentary filmmakers for a renowned German media outlet “Deutsche Welle,” were murdered in their tent on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the US-led Afghan War.

They were believed to be on their way to see the Buddha statues in Bamyan province. These statues were destroyed under the Taliban.

On November 26, 2001, a Swedish TV4 camera operator Ulf Stromberg was killed during a robbery bid at a house where several journalists from Sweden were staying.

(Reference: a report carried by “The Guardian”)

On November 11, 2001, a Luxembourg Radio reporter Pierre Billaud was one of five journalists who were attacked, while riding a tank during reporting. Three of these journalists, including Pierre, had succumbed to injuries. The other two journalists who got killed in this attack were Radio France International reporter Johanne Sutton and a German freelance journalist Volker Handloik.

The injured correspondents included Paul McGeough (Australian) and Veronique Reyberotte(French).

(Reference: The New York Times)

By the way, while talking of some brave internationally acclaimed female journalists killed in the line of duty, it is hard to forget the case of Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building in 2006.

A strong critic of the Kremlin, she had received death threats following her outspoken reports documenting torture, mass executions and kidnapping by the military during the conflict in Chechnya.

In 1996, Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter for the British “Sunday Independent,” was shot dead in her car on the outskirts of Dublin by a motorcycle pillion passenger.

She had carried out investigations into senior members of the Irish criminal underworld.

In 2007, two local women journalists were killed in Afghanistan. These included reporter Zakia Zaki, who was shot seven times as she slept with her 20-month-old son. Her death came six days after Shakiba Sanga Amaj, a local television newsreader, was killed.

In 2011, two women journalists were found murdered in a Mexico City park.

The bodies of Ana Marcela and Yarce Viveros, the founders of a political magazine, were discovered by joggers.

Their killings followed a pattern of murders by organised crime gangs and drug cartels.

In 2009, a radio journalist Uma Singh was hacked to death by a criminal gang in Nepal.

Uma Singh had broadcast and written about women’s rights and the caste system, as well as political issues.

In 1965, Dickey Chapelle, a female US photojournalist was killed by a landmine in Vietnam.

She had covered the Second World War.

(Reference: The February 22, 2012 edition of “The Telegraph”)

It was in November 1965 that a New York journalist and popular game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen was mysteriously killed in the United States.

By 1950, Dorothy’s column was running in 146 papers, and had garnered a whopping 20 million readers!

Each broadcast of her weekly TV show “What’s My Line?” was seen by 25 million viewers for 15 years in a row.

This show would feature a celebrity guest, for whom the panelists were blindfolded.

She was reportedly investigating into the November 1963 murder of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Just days before her mysterious demise, she had confided to her cameraman that she was all excited about going to New Orleans to meet a source whom she did not know, but would recognise.

The CIA had 53 field offices around the world watching her on her foreign travels.

During her autopsy, a pink liquid was found in her stomach but was never analysed.

(Reference: Midwest Today magazine)

The News

The post Many journalists have died in the line of duty the worldover appeared first on Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).

A case in point is the attack on Hamid Mir, senior anchorman and journalist at Geo News.

His attack has left the journalist community shattered, for he was respected for his views and news.

The media are no longer free; they are operating under constant threat of gun and bomb attacks, as is visible with the security arrangements each media house has made outside their offices.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states that 54 journalists – including Wali Khan Babar, Daniel Pearl and Saleem Shahzad – have been murdered in the country since 1992. Seven journalists were killed in 2012 alone, making Pakistan the world’s third deadliest country.

The CPJ’s 2014 Global Impunity Index ranks Pakistan ninth in the list of countries around the world where an attack on a journalist may go unpunished.

Twenty two cases of attacks on journalists are currently pending in the courts.

The present year has probably been the most dangerous for journalists.

On New Year’s Eve, Shan Dahar, Larkana bureau chief for a television channel, was gunned down.

In January, three employees of a media group were killed in a gun attack on their digital satellite news gathering van parked outside the Board of Secondary Education Karachi.

On March 29, Raza Rumi, editor of a weekly newspaper and anchorman for a media group, was attacked in Lahore while he was being driven; his driver lost his life in the incident.

Following the attack, Rumi wrote in a column: “I am now at a safe location, unable to move out and have been told that my case is exceptional with six men – most armed – had attempted to eliminate me and they failed. And that the security agencies can only protect me if I remain locked up in a ‘safe’ location.”

According to independent journalist unions, six media workers have been killed in targeted attacks since January, while over a dozen have already received death threats, including three anchorpersons.

The situation is far more alarming and threatening than it has been realised. The risk factor for the media has increased as conflict escalates.

“Today the country is caught in the midst of many conflicts – including terrorism, sectarianism, separatist movements, violence among underworld mafias.

“Journalists report these stories from the conflict zones without having any training or even understanding of the danger,” said Mazhar Abbas, general secretary of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

He said that this was the time for media houses to demonstrate unity and fight for the right of freedom of expression.

Until that happens, truth will continue to be sacrificed as armed men roam the streets and attack with impunity.l

The News

Karachi: One of the four men convicted for murdering the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, has been asked by Sindh High Court (SHC) to engage a lawyer to pursue his appeal against life imprisonment. Earlier, dissatisfied with the trial court verdict, all the four convicts in the case has appealed against their conviction and subsequent award of sentences.

The Express Tribune

On Saturday March 1, 2014 a Pakistani court convicted six defendants for their roles in the murder of Wali Khan Babar, a Geo TV journalist who was shot dead in Karachi in January 2011, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the convictions – the first in the murder of a Pakistani journalist – but calls on authorities to ensure the masterminds are brought to justice.

“These convictions mark a significant step in addressing the deep-rooted culture of impunity surrounding the murders of journalists in Pakistan. They indicate what can be achieved when the country’s legal system commits itself to pursuing justice,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz. “But justice will remain incomplete until the masterminds in Wali Khan Babar’s case are also brought to trial.”

Judge Mushtaq Ahmed Leghari, who presided over a special Anti-Terrorism Court, sentenced Naveed Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Faisal Mahmood, and Mohammad Shahrukh Khan to life in prison, news reports said. Two others, Kamran (alias “Zeeshan”) and Faisal Mota, who have not yet been arrested, were given the death sentence in absentia. A seventh man, Mohammed Shakeel, was acquitted for lack of evidence, the reports said.

In an alleged video confession posted on YouTube, Khan said he had been told to follow Babar as he was driving home from work, according to a Reuters report. He said Zeeshan had stepped in front of the journalist’s car and shot him six to seven times. The video was authenticated to Reuters by the prosecutor, the report said.

CPJ issued a special report in May 2013, “Roots of Impunity,” that documented the lead-up to Babar’s murder and its aftermath. Babar had been threatened in connection with his coverage of political turf wars, extortion, targeted killings, electricity theft, and land-grabbing in the crime-ridden city of Karachi.

After Babar was slain, unidentified assailants murdered several individuals connected to the investigation, including a police informant, two police constables, and the brother of an investigating officer. In 2012, the one remaining witness in the case was also killed. He was due to testify in court two days later. The original prosecutors in the case–Muhammad Khan Buriro and Mobashir Mirza–told CPJ that they were threatened and eventually fired. They fled the country in late 2011. After these developments, the trial was shifted from Karachi to an anti-terrorism court in Shikarpur.

Based on early statements given by the suspects, police said the murder plot was organized by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM, Pakistan’s third-largest political party and considered its most influential secular political organization. The MQM has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Prior to the convictions in the Babar murder, the high-profile killing of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan is the only known journalist murder case in the country in which partial justice was carried out. At least 46 journalists have been killed in Pakistan over the course of the last decade, according to CPJ research. The country is ranked eighth on CPJ’s 2013 Impunity Index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population.

IFEX

HYDERABAD: Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, a death row prisoner convicted in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, had attempted suicide in his Hyderabad jail cell earlier this week, just a day before his appeal was to be heard in the Sindh High Court.

Shaikh along with his three other accomplices, Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil, was convicted and handed the death penalty in 2002. The co-accused were handed 25-year jail terms.

“Shaikh warned the wardens that he will commit suicide if he is not provided a mobile phone within 15 minutes,” the Jail Superintendent Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhindi told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

Sarhindi added that Shaikh tied his bed sheet as a rope around the iron grills of the exhaust in his cell and tried to hang himself. “The wardens used a scissor to cut the bed sheet when he knotted it in the grills and around his neck.”

“His condition is stable now and a case has been filed against him in the local police station,” jail official Akram Naeem said. An FIR has been lodged at the Baldia police station on the complaint of assistant jail superintendent Syed Nadeem Shah. Shaikh has been booked under section 325 of the CrPC which contains a jail term of up to one year if proven guilty of committing suicide.

Express Tribune

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

The News