Asad Abbas Malik: Pakistani Journalists: Living on the edge By Aziz Sanghur

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Pakistani Journalists: Living on the edge By Aziz Sanghur

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Uploaded by azizsanghur on Mar 3, 2012

More than one hundred journalists have been killed in Pakistan for the past ten years. Pakistan was the most dangerous country for journalists. According to Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ)'s report one hundred killings had had a direct link to their work as journalists. Wali Khan Babar, Geo News TV; Nasrullah Afridi, PTV/Urdu daily Mashriq; Saleem Shahzad; Asia Times Online; Asfandyar Khan, Akhbar-e-Khyber; Shafiullah Khan, The News; Muneer Shakir working for Online News Network and television channel, Sabzbaat; Faisal Qureshi, 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 the victim of target 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, Daily Eagle; Rehmatullah Shaheen; and Zaman Ibrahim, crime reporter with vernacular Daily Extra News, were targeted due to their journalistic work, the report said. The report said that journalists were in increased danger in the region with repression and violence directed at media workers. The journalists in the 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. A majority of journalists in the districts are under paid or not paid and allowed to use only ID cards of the channels they work for and have to arrange their own earnings. The media houses remained indifferent towards the safety and security of journalists, according to the report. The Pakistani journalists are forced to not only work in poor working conditions but also receive meager remuneration. They are not only insecure but also under constant mental, physical and economic pressure to support their families. Over 100 journalists have lost their lives after 9/11 in the wake of war-like situation in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwah and Baluchistan at the hands of militants, terrorists, Taliban, and ethnic groups, as bomb explosions and suicide attacks occur off and on. The number of the injured journalists is not less than 350. More than four dozen have become disabled to such an extent that they cannot even earn their livelihood. No life insurance cover is provided either by the government or media magnates. Not a single journalist in Pakistan is being provided for and given benefits allowed under the laws including Wage Board Award, labour laws and under the ILO Conventions. Likewise, there is no Gender Policy formulated by media houses, and women are maltreated, abused, intimidated, harassed, underpaid and exploited. There is no working environment for women in consonance with standard norms. The highhandedness of the media tycoons could be assessed from the fact that no appointment letters are issued to them. Contract system has been introduced by the media barons to escape a number of legal obligations, thus depriving journalists of benefits of job security, provident fund, gratuity, medical and other facilities. Not only have the media owners devised a unique method to circumvent the law, fake companies are also operated to employ media workers. According to statistics, there are as many as 300 newspapers in the list of APNS (All Pakistan Newspaper Society), out of which only three have professional editors. The decision for publication/airing of the content is the sole prerogative of the media owners themselves both in electronic and print media. 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.