As is invariably the norm, the assailants in both instances escaped unchallenged after committing the crime. While it is too early to ascertain the motive of this second murder of a journalist within weeks (the first one was claimed by the Taliban), it is often the case that powerful groups, angry at being shown in a poor light for their wrongdoings, retaliate with violence.

Journalists have to come to grips with all sorts of pressures, from criminal elements, terrorists, government officials and even the law-enforcement apparatus, which is why theirs is such a perilous calling. A report on safety of Pakistani media professionals presents a bleak picture of level of insecurity faced by them and calls for serious efforts by governments and media to change the present situation where those who kill, injure, abduct and threaten journalists are almost never punished.

The Report on the Safety of Media Workers, released by Pakistan Press Foundation on the International Day on Impunity, documents that since 2001, 47 media workers have been murdered, 164 injured, 88 assaulted, 21 abducted and 40 detained. In addition, 24 media professionals died while covering dangerous assignments.

There have been convictions in only two cases out of 384 cases of violence against media. It should also be noted that Pakistan ranks ninth on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ global Impunity Index, which analyses countries where journalists are murdered and their killers roam free. The government needs to end its apathy and help change this dire situation. It needs to take action to ensure media workers carry out their professional duties in a less intimidating environment. They should enjoy the level of freedom necessary to work unhindered to report on matters of public interest.

Express Tribune

A Pakistani television journalist has been shot and killed by motorcycle gunmen in a tribal region in the country’s northwest that has been hit by a wave of attacks on members of the media.

Unidentified gunmen killed Hafeez Ur Rehman of Neo TV Nov. 22 near his home in the town of Kohat in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as North-West Frontier Province, news outlets including Iran’s Press TV said.

The motive for the killing of Rehman, 42, remains unclear. No groups or individual have claimed responsibility yet. Rehman, who covered the region for Neo TV and previously edited his own newspaper, had not reported any threats made against him, Agence France-Presse reported. He is the second journalist to be killed in Pakistan this month and the third to be killed since September.

A local reporter, Zaman Mehsud, was shot five times in the same region Nov. 3. A Taliban commander later told Reuters his group was responsible for Mehsud’s death because of his “writing against us.” The commander also told the news agency the group had other journalists on its hit list in the region.

In September, a satellite technician for Pakistan’s Geo News and a former reporter for the network were killed in separate incidents in Karachi, and a third journalist was wounded in a shooting attack in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 71 Pakistani media workers and journalists have been killed while practicing their profession in Pakistan since 2001 , according to a report Nov. 1 report released by the Pakistan Press Foundation. Of the 71 killed, the deaths of 47 journalists were directly related to their work, according to the report. Only two of the cases have resulted in criminal convictions.

Global Journalist

THE murder in Kohat of Hafeezur Rehman, chief editor of a local weekly newspaper and the president of the cable TV network owners association, appears to be yet another chapter in the saga of violence against this country’s journalists.

While it may be too soon to authoritatively say that he was targeted as a result of his profession, this much is obvious: across the country, those whose duty it is to report on events regularly come under fire from extremists — and sometimes even by state-sponsored actors.

Further, the modus operandi of the attack on Hafeezur Rehman was the same as the one employed in the killing in Tank earlier this month of journalist Zaman Mehsud, responsibility for which was claimed by the banned TTP.

Also read: ‘More journalists killed in Pakistan than any other democracy’

Then, two weeks ago, Mohammed Afzal Mughal, vice president of the Balochistan Union of Journalists, was picked up by a law-enforcement agency; he was released the next afternoon, perhaps in part because his plight was immediately made public nationwide by the media.

And last week, the Faisalabad bureau office of Dunya TV was targeted with a hand grenade, leaving three people injured.

Not even a month has passed since the UN marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on Nov 2.

The occasion was in Pakistan highlighted by most media houses that reiterated their call for the government and its justice system to forcefully pursue cases where media employees are harassed.

Yet the only two cases where the murders of journalists have seen pursuit and sentencing are those of Daniel Pearl and Wali Khan Babar, the former as a result of international pressure and the latter after much prodding locally.

The killing of Saleem Shahzad remains unresolved, to say nothing of cases where death has not been an outcome.

Until the state takes measures to end this culture of impunity, few media persons will be able to say that they can discharge their obligations the way they are supposed to.

Dawn