{"id":8089,"date":"2019-08-04T11:09:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T06:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pakistanpressfoundation.org\/?p=96199"},"modified":"2019-08-04T11:09:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T06:09:55","slug":"coverage-without-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/coverage-without-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Coverage Without Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cA few days before his death, I asked my brother why don\u2019t you leave this risky and low-paid profession and go back to Korea to make your children\u2019s future bright,\u201d Nawab Gul recalls his last exchange with his deceased brother Javed Khan. \u201cI was worried about growing attacks on journalists in the country. But he refused, saying it is a profession which provides him the opportunity to become a voice for the voiceless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan was a photographer for Daily Markaz. While reporting, he and a cameraman of the UK-based DM Digital TV were killed during an armed clash between law enforcement agencies and the students of Lal Masjid in Islamabad\u2019s Aabpara area on July 3, 2007.<\/p>\n
An eyewitness to Khan\u2019s death, senior journalist Zafar Malik recounts that he, along with some colleagues, was standing at the roadside near the mosque while Khan was filming the violence when suddenly bullets struck, leaving Khan in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n
As they rushed to rescue Khan, they were trapped in the shower of bullets as heavy gunfire erupted around them. \u201cI felt like bullets were raining over them,\u201d Malik shares of that most painful experience of his decades-long career.<\/p>\n
The bullets marks can still be seen on the trees outside the school near Lal Masjid where Malik and his colleagues took shelter to escape the heavy firing. Although the government had made an announcement through the electronic media, warning journalists to stay away from the conflict zone in the tense stand-off leading up to the military operation, most had no idea about the announcement as they had been in the field from the early morning; they had no access to internet to keep themselves updated about the latest directions, explains Malik. While they were shifting Khan in a vehicle, bullets hit two other colleagues, leaving them injured.<\/p>\n
Media personnel on the frontlines of conflict, including reporters, cameramen and photojournalists provide the images and information that media and readers most crave. But they are often also the most vulnerable. So why is so little being done to protect them?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The senior journalist says Khan\u2019s death was taken simply as a collateral fatality; no FIR was registered against anyone for his death. He does not think that the deceased and injured journalists had been included in the list of the students who had been killed or injured during the later operation.<\/p>\n
Absar Alam, who was bureau chief of Geo News at the time, was among the journalists who survived the crossfire between the law enforcement agencies and the students of Lal Masjid. \u201cThe lead up to the operation was like a frenzy,\u201d recalls Alam. He was present at the conflict zone along with others to cover the developments. No one was thinking about anything untoward happening because the law enforcement agencies were making announcements asking Lal Masjid students to surrender peacefully. But all of a sudden, the protesting students became violent and started pelting stones on the security vehicles patrolling outside the mosque.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, a stray bullet \u2014 Alam doesn\u2019t know from where it came \u2014 turned the whole situation violent, and a crossfire began as the Lal Masjid activists were equipped with automatic weapons and stones. The gunfire was so sudden that everyone was trapped in the middle.<\/p>\n
Alam didn\u2019t know where his colleagues had gone; he just rushed towards the nearby school wall to escape the heavy shelling when a hard blunt object grazed his head. He began to bleed. He didn\u2019t know which side it came from as the law enforcement personnel were positioned behind him on the rooftop of the school and the madrassah students were in the front of the mosque. He had nothing to shield himself from being hit further, as till then there was no concept in the Pakistani media of providing safety equipment to journalists who covered dangerous conflicts.<\/p>\n
Alam pressed his head firmly with his hands to stop the bleeding and rushed towards the Poly Clinic Hospital where he luckily reached and had his wound stitched. Later, he was informed that Khan had been killed and some other colleagues were treated for their injuries. After that incident, a few media organisations started providing bullet-proof jackets and helmets to their reporters covering conflicts, but not all reporters and cameramen are equipped with safety equipment even today.<\/p>\n
Living with disability<\/strong><\/p>\n