Noorani was sent abusive messages and threats by a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army Tarik Niazi on Twitter and Facebook. The account used by Brigadier (retd) Tarik Niazi is a known account which he usually uses to run different campaigns and spread messages.

Tarik Niazi in his threatening and abusive message said that he was in Islamabad and invited the journalist to meet him to settle scores. However, some sources say that Niazi often stays in Canada and initially belongs to Rawalpindi.

The journalist’s complaint to FIA also discusses three threatening calls made between 2310 hrs and 2336 hrs on April 12, 2014 on his home mobile number. The mobile number used to make threatening calls 0333-1212346 was also given to the FIA with all relevant details.

Identifying and tracing any person using a cell number is quite easy and now it is up to the FIA to investigate, arrest all criminals and also inform the general public about the matter as some circles also insist that all these attempts to harass journalists could also be a move to malign and defame the institution of the Pak Army by some vested interests.

It should be noted that Noorani received threatening calls a day after Editor Investigations of The News Ansar Abbasi received a threatening email. Ansar complained to the FIA immediately but no official of the agency contacted the senior journalist despite the passage of almost 48 hours.

The News

“Why am I so sure that they were police personnel? Because they had official weapons, official mobiles, and even the way they behaved all matched the typical style of the Karachi police,” Mr Chishti said.

He was addressing a hurriedly called press conference arranged by the Safety Centre for Journalists at the National Press Club (NPC) here on Monday.

Narrating his ordeal, Ali Chishti, who works at a weekly magazine, said his car was stopped by six policemen standing along with a mobile van at around 8pm on August 30.

“It was an isolated area and I stopped my car immediately. They pulled me out, manhandled me and eventually blindfolded me,” he said, adding,

“They took me in the police mobile and later handed me over to another group of men.”

“After inflicting severe physical and mental torture, they left me at an isolated spot from where some police personnel gave me a lift in their official vehicle,” he said.

However, he said his ‘rescuers’ then started demanding Rs50,000 from him, and did not specify any reason for the kidnapping and torture.

Instead, Mr Chishti was only directed to leave the city immediately. Responding to a question, Mr Chishti acknowledged that he had initially thought his kidnappers were political workers, but the style and body language of his kidnappers was clear proof that his kidnappers were actual policemen.

He said to ensure that he had left the city, some people had also gone to his office in Karachi two days later, inquiring about his where abouts.

DAWN

Although writing a report about parties harbouring militant wings is not possible for a journalist without risking his or her personal safety, the attacks on journalists have increased with the passage of time as the federal and provincial governments watch as silent spectators.

While a woman host of a talk-show fled the city in early August following a call intercepted by the intelligence agencies revealing a murder plot to be carried out by four target killers, a male journalist has recently been brutalised and told to leave the city. Both incidents happened in August and were publicized although it is hard to ascertain how many journalists have quietly left the city under threat.

In the first case, the police had informed the woman journalist about the life-threats after she did programmes on the mass-scale rigging in Karachi on election day. In the other case, a journalist was kidnapped by policemen on August 30 who later handed him over to another group who roughed him up.

The involvement of the police in such activities coincides with an admission by the IG Sindh before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a recent briefing that around 6,000 criminals were which needed to teach him a lesson. He was released after 10-hour captivity and his driver is still missing.

“They accused me of betraying the ethnic community I belong to,” he told The News in Islamabad, his latest destination, adding they criticized him for creating misunderstandings between a political party and a state institution.

“They warned me against writing anything about domestic politics and advised me to write only about international issues,” he explained. He was also accused of feeding information to Chirya, a reference to Geo TV’s talk show host, Najam Sethi.

As they asked him to quit Karachi, he told them that he would follow their order. Asked where he would go, he said he planned to settle in London, a reply that provoked them into his further beating and was asked to move to a city within Pakistan.

He was later dumped on roadside and the passersby informed the police which, instead of helping him, demanded Rs 50,000, and said failing to do so would land him in jail as a terrorist. They gave up the extortion demand only after he told them about his relation with an SHO of the area, nevertheless, the police forced him pay them Rs2,000 as petrol expenses.

In the lady host’s case, fingers were also pointed towards the political party which categorically rejected any role. She also moved to Islamabad and wrote a blog explaining the reasons behind her decision to quit Karachi.

After eye-witnessing massive rigging at the polling stations where she went to cast her vote but could not, she said she did a number of talk shows highlighting this issue. Later she went to Saudi Arabia for Umra and found her house surrounded by police upon return to Karachi.

As soon as I opened my cell phone after returning to my home, she wrote, the first call I received was by SP of her area. He said only one sentence “Madam where were you? Please don’t leave your house. I am on my way.” The Police and intelligence agencies men came to my house shortly, she explained.

“I was told by them that they had intercepted telephone calls detailing that four target killers had been assigned to target me or my family and the attack would be made to look like a robbery at gun point.”

According to all intelligence reports, all the terrorists belonged to the largest ethnic political party of Karachi, her blog reads. A delegation of the political party visited her residence after she contacted it about the calls intercepted by the intelligence agencies. The party delegates refuted the report.

She then asked herself: “I was unsure who to believe? My saviours had become my enemies? Were the agencies pitting me against a political party to play their proxy wars? Or was this whole thing the truth?”

Soon after this shocking news, she sent her brother back to Canada and moved her ailing mother to an undisclosed city before flying to Islamabad where she brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister during his meeting with TV anchors.Besides meeting the PM, she wrote: “I met Interior Minister and DG ISI but my all efforts went into vain.”

The News

“What Chishti has described is shocking that the Karachi police could kidnap a journalist to deliver him to the Boss,” FN said.

Ali Chishti, who writes for Pakistani and foreign publications on security issues, went on air on Friday night to describe his ordeal after being picked up from Karachi’s PECHS area along with his driver on August 30 at around 8pm by “uniformed personnel” of the Karachi police.

“Upon enquiry, I was told that I am not being kidnapped but someone wanted to see me; when I asked who?” They said “Boss,” Chishti said.

“Chishti’s kidnapping is the second case after journalist Abdul Razki Baloch’s body was found with signs of torture on August 21 in Karachi. Anything less than a thorough investigation under the supervision of a Sindh High Court judge will not take us to facts,” FN demanded of the Sindh chief minister. Meanwhile, Senator Saeed Ghani of the Pakistan People’s Party has contacted Chishti and promised an investigation.

Daily Times

Ali K. Chishti, a correspondent of Friday Times, said he was intercepted by some half a dozen policemen in the PECHS area minutes after he had left his office with driver on Aug 30.

Mr Chishti, who felt that there was serious threat to his life, left for Islamabad after the incident. He said he ‘suspected some people’ of being behind the incident. However, he did not mention any name.

“I was dragged out of my car, put into a police vehicle and taken to Do Darya where I and my driver were handed over to some people in civvies. I also heard a gunshot…soon after we were taken out of the vehicle. I was kept there for nine hours and severely beaten up. My driver has since been missing,” he said.

Mr Chishti said the people in civvies threatened him and asked him to leave the city within 24 hours and refrain from reporting the matter to anyone. They also ‘abused’ Friday Times editor Najam Sethi, he added.

“I wrote extensively on national security issues and also about extremist elements. I am not sure but have enough reasons to believe who they were and why they did it to me,” said Mr Chishti.

Our New York Correspondent adds: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Pakistani government to fully investigate the abduction and beating of Mr Chishti.

Mr Chishti told CPJ and other news outlets that he had been abducted and beaten up on Aug 30, and released the next morning.

DAWN

Israr Ahmed, crime reporter of an English national daily, has been given life threats by some unknown persons on his cell number for many days. He has lodged a complaint with Saddar Bairooni police, but they have not registered an FIR so far. It is pertinent to mention that Israr Ahmed narrowly escaped a life attempt in April 2012 in Dhamial.

The office bearers of National Press Club (NPC), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Crime and Court Reporters Association Rawalpindi (CCRAR) condemned the threats being given to the reporter and appealed to the federal government to take steps for protection of journalists. Talking to media, NPC Secretary General Shehryar Khan said that such threats could not stop journalists from discharging their duties. “Hundreds of journalists have so far been killed, but neither any challan has been completed nor has any culprit been arrested,” he said. He termed the situation alarming and urged the government to take steps for journalists’ protection.

CCRAR Secretary General Iqbal Malik said he had discussed the issue with the district government and filed an application for registration of an FIR at Saddar Bairooni police station. He said the association would pursue the case and ask Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to take notice of the threats being given to the reporter.

He said Israr Ahmad, a reporter of The Nation, was being given threats by unidentified people for many days. “On Thursday night, a person phoned Israr and, using offensive language, said: “Come out of your house as we are waiting for you outside. We will burn you along with your family.” Iqbal said the journalist had no enmity with anyone and asked the district government to provide protection to him.

The Nation

The report points fingers at all those quarters that have, in the past, been accused of making life a living hell for journalists from all media backgrounds. They include not just the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but also state security agencies and even political parties. Basically, everyone with something to hide has a score to settle with this country’s media men and women. The most visible cases that outline the dire threat against journalists are those of Saleem Shahzad who was killed after he uncovered a story about militant ties with the security agencies and Wali Khan Babar who was killed in Karachi after exposing some of the mafias that have the city in its grip. Both cases highlight how the state’s security agencies and the mafia wings of certain political parties may be involved in putting the lives of journalists at risk.

Pakistan has earned and retains the unenviable title of ‘the most dangerous place in the world for journalists’ since 2010. The Amnesty International report clearly states that journalists have been threatened and coerced for reporting on the military, political parties and militant outfits. It also states that lack of persecution has allowed this open hostility towards journalists because no one has so far been brought to book for the deaths and intimidation of journalists. If one thinks about it, the deaths of Saleem Shahzad and Wali Khan Babar seem to have forever been lost in the murky waters of the country’s rich and powerful interests. In addition to this, the electronic and print media bodies and managements of media organisations refuse to take responsibility for their employees, never bothering to look into the threats visited upon journalists who uncover some of the biggest and most damning stories in the country. The media has been a relatively free voice, a watchdog of society, since 2002. It is the one forum in the country where people are held accountable and crimes by the well connected are brought to light. If those who threaten the media are allowed to walk away with impunity, there will be no end to these crimes against humanity and freedom of expression. The Amnesty International report should not be taken lightly; it is there for the whole world to see. With a new elected government about to take office, it is time it and the media bodies came together to tackle this growing threat to the media.

Source: Daily Times

At the launch of its 2013 annual report at its London headquarters here, the human rights organisation’s Secretary General Shalil Shetty gave example of senior GEO TV and Jang Group journalist Hamid Mir, who escaped an assassination attempt in November when a bomb under his car failed to detonate. Quoting the annual report, Shetty said that the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attempt.

The AI report says that several journalists claimed to have been threatened for reporting on the military, political parties or armed groups, but the authorities failed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Speaking to The News, AI’s Pakistan researcher Mustafa Qadri said that his organisation has received credible reports of threats to and attacks on journalists because of their coverage of the elections and alleged vote-rigging by some political parties. “Pakistan has a very poor record in protecting journalists from attacks and as far as we’re aware no one has been prosecuted for killing a journalist since the case of Daniel Pearl in 2002. Failure to address these attacks sends a signal that the perpetrators—be they political parties or other groups – can literally get away with murder. It obviously has a profound impact on freedom of expression in Pakistan because the media plays a critical role in informing the people and keeping the powerful accountable.

Unfortunately, some members of political parties feel they have a licence to use violence to influence the media. Threats to and attacks on journalists are a human rights abuse without any justification,” said Mustafa, without naming a political party, but it’s widely known which parties in Pakistan use violence and threats to media and political opponents.

He said that the people of Pakistan showed tremendous courage by coming out to vote in record numbers and braving the risk of attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups but these elections were not free of violence and rigging in many areas of the country, where in some cases whole polling stations were taken over by goons affiliated with political parties.

He said that it was unfortunate that members of the Awami National Party (ANP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who faced the brunt of attacks by the Taliban attacks, have also been implicated in attacks on journalists, agreements seeking to prevent women from voting in some electorates, or incitement against supporters of other political parties. “As elected representatives of the people of Pakistan, politicians have a responsibility to demonstrate respect for human rights and the rule of law. Any individual or group implicated in abuses must immediately be investigated by the authorities, and, where admissible, evidence is available, alleged perpetrators of these abuses must be brought to justice in fair trials regardless of their rank, status or party affiliations,” he demanded.

The report says that religious minorities suffered persecution and attacks in 2012, with targeted killings by armed groups and religious leaders inciting violence against them. “The Armed Forces and armed groups continued to perpetrate abuses in the tribal areas and Balochistan province, including enforced disappearances, abductions, torture and unlawful killings. The courts successfully compelled the authorities to bring a handful of victims of enforced disappearance before them, but failed to bring perpetrators to justice in fair trials.”

The report lauded that in a landmark decision on September23, the Supreme Court ruled that members of the transgender community are entitled to the same rights under the Pakistan Constitution as other citizens.

The report alleges that the “security forces continued to act with impunity and were accused of widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, deaths in custody and extrajudicial executions targeting political activists, journalists, and suspected members of armed groups”.

The report appreciates that the Supreme Court took bold initiatives on the issue of “victims of enforced disappearances” but “reports of enforced disappearances continued across the country, especially in Balochistan province and the north-west tribal areas”.

The report says that the Pakistani Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the Balochistan Liberation Army and other armed groups such as the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) targeted security forces and civilians, including members of religious minorities, aid workers, activists and journalists. They carried out indiscriminate attacks using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombs, said the report adding that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had openly claimed responsibility for the killing of Shia Muslims in many incidents.

The report notes that “Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians remained at serious risk of violence and intimidation on the basis of their religious beliefs. “There were at least 79 attacks on Shia Muslims – the most for any religious group in the country. Religious minorities were disproportionately represented in incidents where private individuals sought to invoke Pakistan’s vaguely formulated blasphemy laws.”

Source: The News