Pakistan in pledge to protect journalists
Journalists have been targeted in fighting between troops and militants in the tribal areas
The
Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has pledged to do more to
protect Pakistani journalists. Writer Ahmed Rashid, who is also a member
of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, says there are
hopes this could mark a historic shift in the state's attitude to the
press.
The brutal recent killing of Afghan journalist Sardar Ahmad,
his wife and two children by the Taliban in Kabul's Serena Hotel has
been received by Pakistani journalists with shock but also a sense of
belonging to the same suffering tribe.
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Kati Marton CPJ board memberPakistan is perhaps the least likely role model for other democracies but the news from Islamabad signals a new climate of government- press understanding”
For too long Pakistani
journalists have suffered death, kidnapping and torture at the hands of
militants, political parties and the state's intelligence agencies -
although this has always been denied by those accused.
In all, 46 journalists have been killed, 25 of whom were
murdered in the past decade. Dozens more have been threatened and
intimidated.
Yet until March there had not been a single conviction for
the murder of a Pakistani journalist. Courts refused to pursue cases,
witnesses were killed or failed to turn up, lawyers refused to take up
briefs and in those cases where it was suspected that Pakistan's
intelligence agencies may be involved, many journalists were too scared.
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Find out more
- Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist and author based in Lahore
- His latest book is Pakistan on the Brink - The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan
- Earlier works include Descent into Chaos and Taliban, first published in 2000, which became a bestseller
With three de facto insurgencies
in the country, many areas have become akin to war zones. Often
journalists working in these zones - in the Pashtun tribal areas in the
north-west, Balochistan province and Karachi - have been forced into
silence and their reports suffer from self censorship.
Nevertheless, with dozens of newspapers in many languages and
more than 30 news channels on TV, there is an enormous appetite for
news. This public interest has helped boost the confidence of
journalists and their desire to report the news.
So in March when an anti-terrorism court bolstered by support
from the government, the judiciary and most strongly by journalists
themselves, convicted six people for the murder in 2011 of Wali Khan
Babar, a popular TV reporter in Karachi, there was both surprise and
immense joy.
It was an unprecedented judgement by a Pakistani court and
came about partly because the venue of the trial had been changed to
reduce the chance of intimidation. Now Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has
promised that more convictions will follow and journalists will get
access to state organisations to lodge their complaints against
perpetrators of violence.
Sardar Ahmad was a staff correspondent for AFP in Kabul
Mr Sharif said he would establish public prosecutors in all
four provinces and at the federal level to take up cases involving
journalists. The government will pursue the courts to bring those cases
of murdered journalists to trial. A new commission composed of both
journalists and government officials will be set up in order to monitor
abuses and there will also be a venue where the press can air their
complaints.
He announced these measure on 19 March to a delegation of the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) headed by Board Member Kati
Marton, an American writer and journalist and the widow of US diplomat
Richard Holbrook.
CPJ had a long list of measures that the Pakistan government
needed to take up in order to provide greater protection for
journalists. Mr Sharif agreed to all of them including changing trial
venues of murdered journalists to avoid attacks, placing journalists'
security high on the agenda as the government enters into talks with the
Pakistani Taliban and highlighting the plight of journalists in
Balochistan and the tribal areas.
He also agreed to review the lifting of restrictions on
issuing visas and the travel limits placed on foreign correspondents,
which have hurt Pakistan's image abroad and contributed to the idea that
the country is off limits. There will be a review of the Declan Walsh
case - the New York Times reporter who was forced to leave the country
and declared persona non grata last year.
No Pakistani leader has ever promised such measures, even though they still have to be put into practice.
"Pakistan is perhaps the least likely role model for other
democracies but the news from Islamabad signals a new climate of
government-press understanding and a breakthrough for the country," said
Kati Marton.
Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after years in exile and swept to power in the 2013 elections
For the first time it may be possible that the government will
treat the Pakistani media as a partner rather than an adversary in order
to lift the country out of its present misery, which comes in the shape
of insurgencies, economic decline and dwindling respect for human
rights.
In Balochistan province, which has been wracked with
insurgency, violence and the disappearance of journalists and civilians
for more than a decade, the government has now asked the Supreme Court
to try two army officers on cases of missing people. The officers will
be tried under a military court but it is the first time such a case has
even been brought to court.
Pakistan's media has suffered under long bouts of military
rule, authoritarian civilian rule and the power of the ISI - who don't
answer questions.
Yet the media has always fought back and both strengthened
itself and prospered despite such a negative environment. Now it seems
that a civilian leader is finally trying to address the long-standing
grievances of the press.
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