The year 2011 was bad for journalists working in South Asia as threat, from both non-state and state elements to their safety, especially in the conflict areas, kept taking its toll on them.
According to the South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) report launched on Friday, working conditions for journalists in Pakistan were more risky against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts in the vast north and south western regions of the country. While militants target them with impunity, fingers are also raised at the role of security agencies in their kidnapping and killing. The total number of journalists killed in South Asia was 17, of which 12 were Pakistanis. In India three and in Afghanistan two deaths were recorded, the report said.
It was also informed in the report that the impunity index of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has ranked Pakistan as the 10th most dangerous country in the world for journalists where the chances of getting away with murders are extremely high.
In 2010, the South Asia Media Monitor reported killings of 19 journalists and one media-worker in South Asia, most of them in the conflict-ridden regions. Pakistan was among the top in the list of the “most dangerous countries”.
The report revealed that eight killings had had a direct link to their work as journalists. Wali Khan Babar from the Geo News TV, Nasrullah Afridi from PTV/Urdu daily Mashriq, Saleem Shahzad from Asia Times Online, Asfandyar Khan from Akhbar-e-Khyber, Shafiullah Khan from The News, Muneer Shakir working for the Online News Network and a television channel Sabzbaat, Faisal Qureshi, the editor for a political news website London Post and Javed Naseer Rind, a senior sub-editor and columnist with the Urdu-language Daily Tawar have become victims of targeted killing, suicide bombing and the wrath of intelligence agencies.
It has not been ascertained whether llyas Nazar, a reporter with the Baloch-language magazine Darwanth, Abdost Rind from Daily Eagle, Rehmatullah Shaheen and Zaman Ibrahim, crime reporter with vernacular Daily Extra News, were targeted due to their journalistic work, the report said.
It said journalists were in increasing danger in the region with repression and violence directed at media workers.
Right to information and Internet activists reporting in blogs, on Facebook or via Twitter increasingly attracted the attention of authorities and of groups tending to violence.
The report said in the outgoing year, many incidents of violence and intimidation of journalists had been reported, involving police, Rangers and various other agencies which sent a message to the media that they better toe the line drawn by the extremists.
Media organisations were not spared from the anger and wrath of many non-state actors. Offices of private TV channels, Multan Press Club and Karachi Press Club were attacked and copies of national dailies were burnt, but no preventive steps were taken to end the violence against media organizations, it was alleged in the report.
Journalists in conflict areas were more vulnerable and exposed to the law enforcement agencies, militant groups and other non-state actors. No proper steps were taken to provide security, insurance and risk coverage by the media houses.
http://southasianmedia.net/Test21/DetailPage.aspx?StoryID=61874
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