Sindh Minister for Information & Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah presented the Sindh Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Bill 2021 in the provincial assembly on Friday.

The bill been prepared by the information department in consultation with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) and senior journalists and media experts, including Prof Touseef Ahmed Khan, Mazhar Abbas, Fazil Jamali, Dr Jabbar Khattak, Owais Aslam Ali and Qazi Asif.

On the request of the information minister, the bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Law, which will scrutinise the proposed legislation and present its report to the assembly in three days.

Earlier, praising the Sindh government’s efforts for the safety and social welfare of the journalists, the KUJ said the much-awaited bill would be tabled today in the assembly.

In a statement, KUJ President Nizamuddin Siddiqui and General Secretary Fahim Siddiqui asked the members of the Sindh Assembly to pass the bill so that it could become law immediately.

They said that because of the personal interest of Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, the bill had been approved by the provincial cabinet and tabled in the assembly. KUJ President Siddiqui said that the proposed legislation for the security and social welfare of journalists was a longstanding demand of the KUJ. “Today is a historic day in that the Journalist Protection Bill was first introduced in the National Assembly and is now being tabled in the Sindh Assembly,” the statement said.

In the current situation of rising crimes against journalists in the country, the steps taken by the federal and Sindh governments towards making laws for the protection of journalists were the need of the hour, said the KUJ.

“Therefore, the KUJ has demanded from the members of the national and provincial assemblies to approve it as soon as possible,” the journalist body said. “After the bill is introduced, the only thing left for it to become law is the approval of the members of the assembly.”

The KUJ also hoped that the bill would include the recommendations it presented to the information minister last month in writing in a meeting to make it a comprehensive law.

Newspaper: The News

Other Media Report: Express Tribune

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Hassan Ali Khayre, Prime Minster of Somalia has expressed deep concern at the horrifying murder of Abdirisak Sa’id Osman, a local radio journalist.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali has, in his letter, has condemned this deplorable act of violence and urged the Somali government to thoroughly investigate the killing of Abdirisak Sa’id Osman.

According to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Osman, a reporter for Voice of Peace was brutally attacked with a knife in Galkayo, in the Mudug region in central Somalia, on September 18.

The unidentified attackers stabbed him in the back and heart while he was walking from the radio station at around 11 pm.

Ahmed Mohamed Ali, Editor-Chief of Radio Voice of Peace said a passerby found the injured Osman and took him to Mudug Regional Hospital (MRH). The doctors operated on him but he succumbed to his injuries.

NUSOJ stated that, some local journalists believe the attack on Osman was revenge for his recent coverage of the security situation in Galkayo which was attributed to Al-Shabaab elements.

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Juan Orlando Hernandez, President of Honduras has expressed concern over the physical and verbal assault against two cameramen in Western Honduras.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali, in his letter denounced this act by the municipal director and urged authorities to take action against him for restraining journalists from doing their work.

According to the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre), the director of municipal justice assaulted cameramen Cristofer Cantarero and Antonio Reyes of Canal 22 Patepluma TV in the city of Santa Bárbara in Western Honduras. Both cameramen were covering a complaint of a fine imposed on a citizen.

Municipal justice director, Roberto Ramos Nuila along with other police officers prevented Cantarero and Reyes from entering public premises. They were not allowed to do their work and their camera was also damaged.

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine has expressed concern over the assault on a female journalist, Daryna Bilera, correspondent of NewsOne TV channel.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali has, in his letter, urged the government of Ukraine to take immediate action against those responsible for assaulting and offending a female journalist who was doing her duty.

According to the Institute of Mass Information, Daryna was covering clashes between members of nationalist movements and the police near the General Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv, Ukraine on September 17.

While the journalist was covering the event, a man, later identified to be associated with World Brovary Television, approached her and appeared to harass her and also threw something at her.

Daryna continued to do her work and then a woman approached her and tried to take her microphone, while yet another woman tried to punch her. This is when the journalist was forced to stop her coverage and she later disclosed that the man had thrown eggs and rice at her.

Daryna also filed a complaint about the attack with the local police.

A large number of protestors had gathered near the General Prosecutor’s Office on September 17, protesting the deportation of ethnic Ingush, Timur Tumgoev, a Russian citizen to Russia. Tumgoev had fought for Ukraine in Donbas.

The protestors were demanding the resignation of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine for this deportation. Members of Ukrainian nationalist organizations Svoboda, Natoinal Corps, С14, and Right Sector attended the protest.

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Rumen Radev, President of Bulgaria has expressed concern over the arrest of two journalists for investigating a scam in EU-funded projects in Bulgaria and Romania.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter, has urged the authorities and security forces to stop targeting journalists for their work.

According to International Press Institute (IPI), Dimitar Stoyanov, a reporter for Bivol (an investigative journalism website in Bulgaria) and Attila Biro of the RISE Project (a non-profit journalism organization in Romania) were detained by authorities in Radomir for several hours. They were held for attempting to prevent and document the destruction of evidence related to the inquiry funded by IPI’s #IJ4EU grant programme.

Bivol released a report on September 10, which spoke about “large-scale and wide-spread corruption” in EU-funded projects in Bulgaria worth hundreds of millions of Bulgarian leva. The report was based on the contents of accounting documents from “a network of consultancy firms linked to large construction companies.”

The editor-in-chief of Bivol, Atanas Tchobanov, told IPI that they received a tip-off that the GP Group, one of the organizations mentioned in the report, was removing equipment and documents from its headquarters in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Tchobanov said that they also informed the authorities but nothing was done.

On September 13, Bivol was informed that the destroyed material had been found near Radomir. They again informed the authorities and then the journalists Stoyanov and Biro reached the spot where they found the destroyed documents and other evidence.

The local police than arrived on the spot and detained Stoyanov and Biro. The two showed their press cards but the police refused to release them. Police also seized their cell phones without giving them a chance to inform their colleagues. The journalists were released in the early hours of September 14. The head of Bulgaria’s anti-mafia police later apologized for the incident.

Karachi: Politics hogs the most space and airtime in print and electronic media, respectively, while human rights and related issues are usually on the sidelines, according to the findings of a survey released by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on Tuesday.

The report, titled “Ethical Dimensions of Media Content in Pakistan” was launched with the collaboration of Open Society Foundations.

The researchers monitored news stories appearing in both print and electronic and categorised them into different themes out of which about 30 were related to politics, and 12 from them were chosen for analysis.

According to the report, in five newspapers during a period of 12 weeks selected for media analysis, 3,040 news items relating to politics appeared on television and in newspapers, 1,496 were on state institutions, 827 were on foreign policy, 665 were on terrorism, 601 were on violence, 406 on non-state institutions, 253 on corruption, 193 on crime, 158 on social justice, 151 on human rights and 149 news stories were on religion. The newspapers were Jang, Express, The News, Express Tribune and Business Recorder.

The survey called for directing the attention of the media on issues directly related to public interest, such as health, education, gender and environment.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, PPF’s secretary-general Owais Aslam Ali said news channels covered politics extensively while vital issues pertaining to human rights and social justice were deprived of due space and airtime.

He said while grading the news components on an ethical scale, six key components were identified. They were: accuracy, fairness, impartiality, balance, privacy and pluralism.

He said commercialisation of media was affecting news coverage and also needed to be checked. The report is also available online to act as a guidebook for media organisations and journalists, he added.

Asad Khalid Baig of Media Matters for Democracy said the report was compiled after monitoring the aired and published content of three media houses — Geo/Jang, Express and Aaj/Business Recorder groups. He explained that the content aired on television was monitored by Mishal while newspapers were monitored by the PPF.

Speaking on the occasion, senior journalist Mazhar Abbas said the code of ethics still needed to be internalised by the media fraternity. He said often times it were the owners of media houses who killed a story which was against their set interests.

Due to this, he said, the institution of editor had become weak and primetime news is now replaced by advertisements in the electronic media.

Another veteran journalist, Afia Salam, also seconded his views.

Faisal Aziz Khan, who is associated with Bol Television, also said ethical reporting had suffered due to commercialisation of media. News, he said, was now judged by the amount of revenue it was able to generate.

The News

Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) suspended Geo TV, Pakistan’s largest television network, on June 6 for a period of 15 days and fined them 10 million rupees (approx. €75,000) after receiving a complaint from the Ministry of Defence. If the fine is not paid before the end of the suspension period, the suspension of the license will continue.

The complaint related to Geo News’ coverage of an April 19 Opens external link in new window attack on news anchor Hamid Mir. His brother, Amir, told the station on air that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, was responsible for the attack on his brother and that the agency had threatened the journalist in the past.

Following Amir’s statement, Geo TV repeatedly aired the allegations over the following eight hours without providing a clear basis for the accusation against the intelligence agency, Secretary General of Pakistan Press Foundation Owais Aslam Ali told IPI in an interview.

Geo TV and Jang Media Group, a Geo affiliate, subsequently Opens external link in new windowapologised to Pakistan’s armed forces and the ISI, admitting that its coverage of the attack on Mir had been “excessive, distressful and emotional”. Nevertheless, the broadcast not only led to tensions between Geo and the military, but also caused an outcry by other media outlets that believed Geo’s actions were anti-state and anti-army.

“The biggest threat we face right now is that this is the first time for many decades that there has been a split between the media organisations themselves,” Ali, who is also a member of the IPI Executive Board, said. “The internal division in the media is a bigger threat to press freedom than the external threats.”

That challenge joins a host of others that journalists in Pakistan face, Ali told IPI.

Before this instance, he noted, there had never been success in blocking a media outlet to such a heavy degree.

The current sentiment against Geo TV has also led to a rise in physical attacks and threats against journalists working for the station and its affiliates. Several attacks on newspaper delivery trucks have also been reported in recent weeks.

In one incident, journalist Zafar Aheer was returning home from work on June 1 when six armed men attacked and severely injured him. Aheer was quoted in Opens external link in new windowlocal news reports as saying that the attackers had called him a traitor because he works for Jang Media Group.

“The media has not been able to generate support for press freedom,” Ali said. “Now the public support for press freedom has dwindled to an extent not seen in my lifetime.”

To fix the current situation in Pakistan, Ali said, the country needs to return to normalcy and media organisations need to begin to work on healing the wounds.

In the long term, he continued, media outlets need their own code of conduct, as well as professional editors to decide what airs on TV to avoid a situation akin to the current Geo crisis. Ali also suggested the creation of a self-regulatory complaint system for media content, something Pakistan does not yet have in place.

IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi echoed Ali’s comments, adding: “The suspension of a broadcaster as a consequence of an editorial mistake, for which they have publicly apologised, is an entirely disproportionate remedy. Pakistan is failing to keep true not only to its constitutional and international press freedom obligations, but also to the recent promise expressed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on March 19, when, in a meeting with a Committee to Protect Journalists delegation, he Opens external link in new windowpledged to expand press freedom and to speak out in support of the safety of journalists.”

For more information, contact: Barbara Trionfi, IPI Press Freedom Manager, at +43 (1) 512 90 11 or by e-mail Opens window for sending emailbtrionfi[@]freemedia.at

International Press Institute

Several professionals agreed that different media houses should work together to tackle this problem before it worsens. They were speaking at a consultative meeting with journalists and citizen groups on ‘Building Coalition for Legal Framework to Combat Impunity of Journalists’ Killings’ organised by NGO Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (Irada) at Mehran Hotel on Wednesday.

“The state actors were active in the 1980s but now non-state actors, such as banned outfits, are the most active and issue hit-lists of journalists of different organisations,” pointed out journalist Ovais Tohid. He stressed on training reporters, cameramen and photographers who work in conflict zones.

Tohid was of the view that self-regulation within organisations is very important. “The code of ethics and the code of conduct should be made.” Most of the journalists who receive threats contact different journalists’ organisations instead of approaching their own media houses, he said regretfully.

“The role of the media is very important in a democratic set-up and it is a high time to initiate self-regulation,” endorsed Karachi Bar Association president Salahuddin Ahmad. “We are at a loss and have become victims as well,” he said.

Ahmad said that about 40 lawyers have been killed in the last four years in targeted attacks and there is an urgent need for different media persons and lawyers to unite and demand security.

“We need to be united on the issue of safety and security of journalists,” said Owais Aslam Ali, the secretary general of the Pakistan Press Foundation. The divisions within the journalist community will not create a favourable environment, he said. Ali pointed out that there is not a single body where a journalist who receives any sorts of threat can lodge a complaint.

The participants said that working journalists should support each other in case of serious threats. “Journalists in Pakistan receive various kinds of threats,” said Irada’s Lala Hassan.

Express Tribune

This he said while speaking at a function, organized by the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) at a local hotel to mark the World Press Freedom Day. He said that there was a demand for shifting the venue of trial court proceedings of the case of slain media person in the context of the case of slain Geo News TV journalist Wali Khan Babar as recently convictions were secured against the killers of Wali Babar by shifting his trial court case to a town in interior Sindh.

On the demand of Owais Aslam Ali, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, said the trial court proceedings related to the murder case of slain media person Munir Sangi, belonging to Larkana, would be shifted to any other town of the province in accordance with the demands of heirs in the family of the deceased media person.

Memon said that the Pakistan People’s Party’s government in the province would never accept the shutting down of the publication of Daily Jang or the closure of the transmission of Geo TV as it would be in sheer violation of principles of freedom of the media.

He said that Geo TV (Jang Group) is a big organization and we are proud of it, adding that the PPP always supported the cause of freedom of press.

Memon said the PPP government would always be tolerant to criticism, due or undue, being propagated by Geo News but it would never accept the complete shutting down of transmission of the channel. He said the all television channels and outlets of the media should have full freedom to criticize governments but they should never be penalized in the form of shutting down their transmission.

The Sindh information minister said the present situation in the country, where different institutions and sections of the society had become highly polarized in the aftermath of the attack on Hamid Mir, had been going highly in favor of enemies of the country. He regretted that nobody was available on the current scenario to defuse the situation in an amicable manner through talks and negotiations. Rather every other person is found active on the scene trying to add fuel to the fire.

Memon said that he would never support the latest stance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan for boycotting the Daily Jang and Geo TV as such a decision would be completely against the spirit of freedom of the media and the principles of democracy.

He said the media and journalistic fraternity in the country should observe complete freedom and solidarity among their ranks to give support and uphold the cause of freedom of the press. He said ensuring freedom of press was a compulsory condition for the continuity of democracy in the country.

He said that media institutions, TV channels and newspapers should not be subjected to censorship or restrictions as the media should embark upon the course of self-regulation, self-reform, and self-discipline as it has always been the norm in a democratic regime.

Other speakers at the forum said the media and journalists’ fraternity would never accept shutting down any newspaper or television channel by the establishment as such an act would create serious repercussions for the independence of the press and for the existence and future of other media institutions in the country.

They also eulogized the journalistic services of injured Geo News senior anchorperson Hamid Mir as saying that the armed attack on his life on the evening of April 19, 2014 could only be perceived as the attack on the freedom of press in the country. They said the only crime committed by Hamid Mir, owing to which he was attacked, was that he had become the representative voice of downtrodden Pakistanis, especially because he had upheld the cause of the people of Balochistan struggling for their long-denied rights.

They said the journalists’ fraternity, regardless of the conflicting business interests of media houses, had complete unity in their ranks for the cause of freedom of press and in no way were they ready to accept any propaganda being aired regarding the attack on the life of Hamid Mir.

Editor of Daily Jang Nazir Leghari said the establishment, which at present had been trying to brand Jang and Geo TV as disloyal to the state, in the past had declared the leaders of East Pakistan AK Fazlul Haq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who in fact had been at the forefront in the struggle for the creation of Pakistan, as traitors. He said the same tyrannical fashion of the state for unduly awarding certificates of disloyalty had dated back to the times of Socrates as the famous Greek philosopher had been sentenced to death while declaring him an enemy of the state.

He said the 180 million population of the country would never be affected by the propaganda of the establishment as it would always hold Hamid Mir in high esteem as the torchbearer of the struggle for securing the rights of the people of Pakistan.

He said the dissenting voice of the media had not been stifled during the draconian and repressive military and martial law rule of the 1980s in the country and in the present modern-day, no state authority would be able to shut down publication of newspapers or transmission of TV channels through the coercive means.

He said it was high time that the owners of media houses and publishers of newspapers sort out their mutual and conflicting interests for the greater cause of freedom of media.

Tahir Najmi, Editor of Daily Express, said the journalistic fraternity had only one consensus opinion about the attack on the life of Hamid Mir that the incident was highly condemnable, tantamount to curbing the freedom of press, while the criminal elements and conspirators behind the attack, regardless of their influence or status, should be brought to justice without any undue delay.

He said the business interests of owners of media houses had been behind the present situation of division and polarization persisting on the national media scene following the attack on Hamid Mir.

He said the working journalists and their representative associations like Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists had always been in the forefront in the struggle against censorship and curbs on the media and press but associations of editors and newspaper publishers had never played their due role in securing the freedom of press.

Saeed Khawar, Resident Editor of Daily Nawa-e-Waqat Karachi, said the media institutions should show harmony in their relationship with each other so that there should be no damage to the cause of freedom of the media.

He said the shutting down of any TV channel or newspaper in the country would be perceived as an act of the state in total disrespect of morality and ethical norms being considered necessary for freedom of the media in the country.

Dr Jabbar Khattak, secretary-general of CPNE, said the democratically elected governments had always been tolerant to criticism of the media and press against their policies while military regimes in the country had always tried to stifle the voice of the dissenting media.

Aamir Mahmood of CPNE also said the CPNE as the representative forum of working and publisher editors in the country would never accept the present form of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), and its repressive laws, mainly due to abnormal constitution of the electronic media regulator. He said Pemra in the present form was not in a position to consider any application forwarded to it for revoking the license of any TV channel.

Vice-president CPNE and chairman of its Sindh Committee Shaheen Qureshi said that World Press Freedom Day in the country should be observed from next year as the day to commemorate Shuhuda (martyrs) of journalism in the country as over 100 journalists in the country had so far laid down their lives for upholding the cause of freedom of the press.

Pakistan Press International

KARACHI: Coordinated efforts are necessary to deal with threats to Pakistani media and Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) is consulting with all stakeholders including the government to ensure better steps for protection of journalists and freedom of expression, said Elisabeth Winchell, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant here Wednesday.

She was speaking at a ‘roundtable discussion on threats to Pakistani media and launch of Pakistan Impunity Watch Website’ arranged at a local hotel by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF). The Pakistan Impunity Watch website was created with the support of Internews.

She said Pakistan is counted amongst the most dangerous counties for journalists and is a concern and focus of CPJ and other global media organizations. She said in Pakistan the situation has been worsening for last three years. She said they are in Pakistan to meet with journalists, media organizations and other stakeholders including the government to discuss the problems of Pakistani journalists and threats to media here and also to find solutions to improve the situation. She lauded the efforts of Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) for freedom of expression and safety of journalists in Pakistan, saying the launch of Pakistan Impunity Watch Website is a big step forward. She said let us think what we could do to end the impunity against journalists in Pakistan.

Owais Aslam Ali, secretary general PPF, said CPJ is amongst largest global organizations working for the safety of journalists. He said the CPJ sends its delegation to Pakistan after every two years and it meets with journalists, media organizations, editors and also with the government to highlight the protection issues of Pakistani journalists. He said the launch of Pakistan Impunity Watch Website would help in proper documentation of the cases related to violence against media and record developments in prosecuting these cases. He said there is a need of joint efforts of all stakeholders to end the impunity against journalists.

It was noted that the conviction in the case of Wali Khan Babar murder is a big achievement for Pakistani media as it is first conviction in any case related to murder of a Pakistani journalist. They said previously there was conviction in the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Denial Pearl and that took more than a decade and still the case is in appealing process. They said after the recent general elections the situation regarding media safety does not seem improving, though the conviction in Wali Khan Babar is the ray of hope.

They observed that reporting in conflict zones like Balochistan and FATA is very risky. The situation in urban Sindh, particularly Karachi, is also bad due to threats of different outfits and organized mafias. The militants of banned outfits have become more assertive and they demand more coverage for their activities. The media is braving pressure of not only militant, ethnic, sectarian organizations and organized criminal mafias but also government agencies try to dictate the media, particularly in conflict areas. There should be a strategy to deal with the threats on these armed banned outfits, as in many other countries their media organizations have successfully dealt with the issue of coverage parameters to the banned outfits and armed militant groups.

In Balochistan province the situation is horrible for reporters. The militants and other actors of this conflict had already killed many journalists but not a single FIR is lodged for these coldblooded targeted killings. Recently, the Balochistan Assembly has passed a bill to give compensation to the families of victimized journalists on the pattern of government compensations being paid to the bereaved families of victims of targeted killings. There is a need of giving insurance cover to all journalists keeping in view the volatile situation of media safety in Pakistan. Local press clubs can also play a good role in safety of their member journalists and efforts be taken for their capacity building.

Murtaza Khan Babar, the brother of slain reporter, Wali Khan Babar, said the conviction in Wali Khan Babar was taken as a big development in Pakistan, though conviction in murder cases is a routine issue. He said his family fought a long, agonizing battle, but still it is too early to say that the case has reached to its logical conclusion. He said they found it difficult to find a lawyer to prosecute Wali Khan Babar case, saving a brave advocate, Niamatullah Khan Randhawa, who was also killed like investigation officers and eyewitnesses of this case. He said the masterminds behind the murder of Wali Khan Babar are still left untouched and Pakistan and a foreign government have to play their role in this regard. He feared if the appeal on Wali Khan Babar conviction is heard in Karachi, they may again not find a lawyer in the city to fight this case.

Kamal Siddiqi, Mazhar Abbas, Amin Yousuf, Idress Bakhtiar, Owais Tohid and others also spoke. The lauded the role of PPF and termed the launching of Pakistan Impunity Watch Website a big step forward to end impunity against journalists.

PPI