At least 91 cases, including seven murders of journalists and a blogger, attacks and other violations, against media and its practitioners have been documented in Pakistan over the course of one year, and Islamabad appears to be the “riskiest territory” for journalists, said Freedom Network in its annual press freedom report released on Thursday.
The report titled “Murders, Harassment and Assault: The Tough Wages of Journalism in Pakistan,” produced by the Pakistani media rights watchdog was issued to mark World Press Freedom Day 2020 on May 3.
According to Freedom Network, these figures signify “a worryingly escalating climate of intimidation and harassment that is adversely affecting the freedom of expression and access to information environment in the country”.
“At least 91 cases of attacks and violations against journalists and media practitioners were documented in Pakistan in the one year between May 3, 2019 and April 10, 2020 across all territories of Pakistan, including the four provinces and Islamabad. This is an average of over seven cases of violations a month – one every fourth day, or twice a week. The violations included killing of seven journalists for their journalism work, two cases of abductions, nine cases of arrests, detentions or confinements, 10 cases of physical assaults, half of which caused severe bodily injuries, one case of attack on the home of a journalist, 23 cases of specific written or verbal threats, 10 cases of censorship, and eight instances of legal cases registered against journalists,” said a press release issued by the media rights body.
“The top three categories of violations against the journalists in Pakistan in the period under review included 23 cases of verbal or written threats of murder or other dire consequences (25 per cent), at least 13 cases of offline and online harassment (14 per cent), and 11 cases of assassination attempts (12 per cent) of which seven resulted in killing of journalists,” it added.
“Overall Islamabad emerged as the riskiest and most dangerous place to practice journalism in Pakistan with 34 per cent of the violations (31 out of total 91 cases) recorded in the federal capital. Sindh was the second worst with 27 per cent of the violations (24 cases) followed closely by Punjab with 22 per cent (20 cases), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 14 per cent (13 cases) and Balochistan with 3 per cent (three cases),” it further stated.
Freedom Network said that of the total of 91 attacks and violations against journalists recorded in Pakistan, TV medium emerged as the single largest victim of type of media with at least 63 cases (69 per cent) of the cases against its practitioners compared to print, radio and internet. Print media was the second most targeted medium with 25 journalists working for it targeted (28 per cent) while three cases were recorded of online journalists targeted, whereas no targeting of a radio journalist was documented, it added.
“In a whopping 42 per cent of the 91 documented cases of violations against media practitioners in Pakistan, the victims or their families suspect the involvement of the state and its authorities and functionaries in the attacks on them compared to other influential threat actors such as political parties, religious groups or criminal gangs and influential individuals, or unidentified threat sources,” it further stated.
