ISLAMABAD: A gathering of media practitioners and legal experts was told on Thursday that there was no law in Pakistan that guaranteed the safety of journalists, and that the state – rather than protecting journalists – actually creates an enabling environment where media personnel can be targeted for doing their jobs.

An official from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights also raised many eyebrows on Thursday when he said that journalists were “among the most vulnerable groups in society”.

Speaking during a discussion on impunity for those who perpetrated violence against journalists, the law ministry’s Khashishur Rehman said, “If something happens to them, it impacts the society as a whole.”

These claims were made at ‘Supporting Safety of Journalists in Pakistan’, a consultation held to assess the journalist safety indicators developed by Unesco. The event was attended by journalists, media practitioners, academics, legal experts and UN representatives.

The indicators are meant to pinpoint matters that impact the safety of journalists and map the features that help assess the extent to which journalists are able to carry out their work safely.

Wali Babar’s brother makes impassioned appeal to end impunity against the press
Mr Rehman also admitted that the issue of impunity stems from “the erosion of the criminal justice system”.

He also said Pakistan was one of the most over-legislated countries in the world.

Discussing the legal aspects of the impunity with which journalists can be silenced, lawyer and columnist Saroop Ijaz pointed out that actions such as banning YouTube and outlawing online criticism of the government created an environment that encouraged extremist views regarding the media and freedom of expression.

“When the state tells people to ‘shut up’, it sets a precedent that it is OK to force someone into silence,” he said, referring to the murder of Saleem Shahzad. He said that only national security states ‘measured’ how patriotic a journalist was.

He said that all protections and legal cover for journalists would be for naught if they were not allowed to cover what they wanted to. “Journalists aren’t responsible to any notion of national security, but the truth. Everything else is a corollary.”

He concluded by saying that journalist safety could not be divorced from the state of free expression in any country, adding that in Pakistan, both were under threat.

Talking about protection mechanisms for local journalists, Guy Berger – Unesco’s Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development – said, “You can’t import or export journalist safety; there are no UN peacekeepers in blue helmets who will come and protect you. Local actors must take the lead in this regard.”

Wali Babar

Most of the speakers highlighted that in Pakistan, only two cases of journalists who were murdered had reached any conclusion so far: the murders of Daniel Pearl and Wali Khan Babar.

The most moving talk of the day came from Murtaza Babar, brother of the slain Geo TV reporter, who made an impassioned plea for journalists to look after their own. “For God’s sake, take notice. Enough journalists have died. Hanging the culprits won’t bring my brother back, but it will benefit journalists working in dangerous environments,” he said.

Speaking about the hardships that he and Wali Babar’s family had to endure after his murder, Murtaza Babar said that “three courts, four judges and eight public prosecutors later”, his brother’s murderers still eluded justice.

“At least seven people – including informants, police officers and their relatives – were killed because they were connected to Wali Babar’s case,” Murtaza recounted. “No lawyer was prepared to take up our case, and one who did was also killed.” He claimed that no one from Wali Babar’s organisation or the various journalist bodies had inquired after the family while all these killings were taking place.

“There have been three attempts on my life, but I’ve not gone public with this information, for fear of scaring off the few people who are helping us,” he said.

Murtaza also suggested that journalist bodies help strengthen the investigative capacity of law enforcement agencies, since that was the weakest link in the system.

Dawn

KARACHI: The Coalition on Media Safety (COMS) has demanded that federal and provincial governments to designate contact persons on violence against media so that media professionals, civil society organizations and concerned citizens may be able to get information on progress regarding specific cases of violence against media personnel. The resolution was passed at the second meeting of the Steering Committee of COMS in Karachi on December 18, 2013.

Expressing dismay at the continued violent attacks on media organisations and professionals, the Steering Committee felt the appointment of special public prosecutor on violence against media would be helpful in putting pressure on the police for investigating and further processing cases of media attacks.

As UNESCO had taken the lead in studying the appointment of such prosecutors in other countries, the Steering committee requested UNESCO, Islamabad to prepare a concept paper on how the office of special prosecutor has functioned in other countries, such as Mexico and Colombia. COMS would then approach to the provincial governments with details of what would be expected from governments for appointment of special public prosecutor on violence against media.

The Steering Committee created a Working Group on Appointment of Special Prosecutor on Violence against Media and designated senior journalist Mr. Mazhar Abbas as the Chair of the working group.

The Steering Committee also requested UNESCO, Islamabad to prepare a brief note on whether such legislation exists in other countries and what the impact of such legislation has been in those countries.The issue of legislation on media safety at federal and provincial level would be discussed in greater detail in the next meeting of the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee also agreed to assist media organizations develop safety protocols as they could be important in minimizing security threats. The meeting stressed the need for training of editors, owners, newsroom staff, reporters and district correspondents to sensitize them about the issue of safety.

The SC meeting asked the COMs secretariat to gather protocols that may have been developed by civil society and media organizations in Pakistan and internationally. These protocols could be the basis of consultations to develop a framework for developing safety protocols by individual media Organisations.

The Steering Committee decided to establish a Working Group on Developing Safety Protocols for Media and unanimously agreed to appoint Mr. Mohammed Ziauddin, Executive Editor, Express Tribune as the chair.

The Steering Committee strongly condemned the attack on the offices of Express Media Group in Karachi and called for proper investigation of the incident so that the responsible can be brought to book. The meeting also demanded the government to provide proper security to all media houses and professionals.

Those who attended the meeting of the Steering Committee of COMS included Muhammad Ziauddin, Express Tribune; Jabbar Khattak and Aamir Mehmood, Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE); senior journalist, Mazhar Abbas; Nawaz Khuhro, Pakistan Press International (PPI), Shaikh Wasim Ahmed and Ghulam Akbar Bhutto, Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA); Moneeza Hashmi, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association; Phyza Jameel, UNESCO; Owais Aslam Ali, Sheerin Soomro and Shahwar Channa; Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Iqbal Khattak, National Coordinator on Journalism Safety, COMS; Haider Abbas Rizvi (MQM) and Samar Ali Khan (PTI).