Although successive rulers in Pakistan have hounded working
journalists, the worst period was the repressive regime
of late military dictator Gen Mohammad Ziaul Haq, who through
sheer demagogy and deceit, ruled this country for over 10
years and brutalised Pakistan society.
“The successive governments of Pakistan
have in the past felt no qualms about dubbing the national
press ‘public enemy number one’, but none
with as much virulence and contempt as the post-1977 martial
law regime of General Mohammad Ziaul Haq, according to
one of our most fearless and respected journalists Zamir
Niazi. “I could close down all the newspapers, say,
for a period of five years, and nobody would be in a position
to raise any voice against it. If they try to organise
a meeting or a procession, I will send them to jail,”
he was quoted in Zamir Niazi’s book ‘The Web
of Censorship’. It was in that repressive regime
when four Pakistani journalists — Nasir Zaidi, Iqbal
Jafri, Khawar Naim Hashmi and Masudullah Khan —
were flogged by a summary military court.t.
As we observe World Press Freedom Day
today (May 3) it seems that journalists in Pakistan are
working in relatively better conditions. However, that
impression becomes illusionary if we recall some of the
incidents since January 2002.
World Press freedom Day was established
by the United Nations on May 3, 1991 to highlight the
basic principles of press freedom. It is a day to encourage
and develop press freedom initiatives and to spur assessments
of the state of press freedom worldwide. World Press Freedom
Day should serve as a time of remembrance for the many
journalists who have been killed in the line of duty.
As we observe World Press Day, it would
be worthwhile to recall some of the major events in Pakistan
when journalists were imprisoned, threatened and even
killed.
January 22, 2002: Ghulam Hasnain, TIME
magazine stringer disappeared. He was allegedly harassed
by intelligence agencies.
January 23, 2002: Wall Street Journal
correspondent Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by a fundamentalist
group. His dead body was recovered on 17 May 2002.
July 30, 2002: Muzaffar Ejaz, editor of
Jasarat, was kidnapped by an intelligence agency. The
agency reportedly wanted to know the source of a story.
He was released the next day.
August 21, 2002: Aziz Sanghur, a reporter
at The Nation, was allegedly invited by the managing director
of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) over a cup
of tea where his aides thrashed him for an hour for writing
a piece against the organisation.
October 20, 2002: Shahid Soomro, a correspondent
of Kawish in Kandkot, was reportedly attacked by people
of the Bijarani tribe and shot dead. The correspondent
had filed a story, which had provoked the tribe.
December 25, 2002: Rashid Qamar, a correspondent
of Pakistan, Faisalabad was shot and injured by unknown
assailants.
April 14, 2003: Journalists were baton-charged
when they protested against the speech of Khalid Maqbool,
governor of Punjab, who accused them of telling lies.
As many as 51 journalists were injured, three of them
seriously.
June 1, 2003: Rashid Butt, correspondent
for the Daily Lashkar in Quetta, was arrested and released
after 4 days. Azam, a young journalist of Balochistan,
was arrested while taking a picture of protestors. Ayub
Khoso, a correspondent of Daily Alak, was given 17 years
in jail for publishing an article on homosexuality.
January 6, 2003: Javed Akhtar Malik, an
activist of Faisalabad Union of Journalists, was attacked.
Amir Mateen, correspondent at the Daily News, Rawalpindi,
Rauf Klasra, Kamran Khan and Ansar Abassi, correspondents
The News were allegedly harassed by intelligence agency.
April 8, 2003: Sami Paracha, Dawn correspondent
in Kohat, was kidnapped after he filed a story about an
influential person who was under arrest. The police later
rescued him. In Hyderabad, journalists Nadeem Panhwer,
Sharif Abro, Irfan Burft, Shahid Khushk and Haji Khansial
were arrested under the Anti-terrorism Act after they
covered a women’s demonstration.
Sept 2003: Nasrullah Afridi of Daily,
Mashriq and Aurangzeb Afridi of Daily, Subh in Khyber
Agency, were put in a private jail by the religious organisation
Tanzeem-e-Itehad-e-Ulema and told not to write about press
freedom. Later they were released through the intervention
of influential people.
October 3, 2003: Amir Bux Brohi, Daily
Kawish correspondent in Shikarpur, was murdered. His relatives
were pressured to hush up the case.
November 20, 2003: A Herald correspondent’s
car was burnt in Lahore.
December 16, 2003: French newspaper L’Express
correspondent and cameraman Jean Paul and Marc Ephtine
and Pakistani journalist Khawer Mehdi were arrested. They
were charged with making a fake film on Taliban. On January
12, 2003, they were presented before the Sindh High Court
and they were fined Rs 200,000 each. Khawer Mehdi was
kept in confinement for 45 days. Khawer Mehdi was produced
in a court in Quetta on 24 January 2003. Case is still
pending.
January 29, 2004: Majid Tanoli, Daily
Shumal, Mansera was allegedly murdered by district nazim
and advocate Khalid Javed. The correspondent had filed
a story about the illicit liquor business of Khalid Javed.
March 16, 2004: Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, a reporter
of Daily Khabreen, was arrested near Wana and released
after a few hours.
March 18, 2004: Shaukat Khusk, correspondent
at GEO at Dab Kot, was arrested and kept in confinement
despite having an accreditation card.
March 19, 2004: APP reporter and photographer
and 6 other journalists who were going to Wana were arrested
and forced to leave.
March 21, 2004: Haroon Rashid, BBC stringer
and Saiful Islam, correspondent at Daily Surkhab and Al-Jazeera
Channel, were arrested at a Peshawar military hospital
where they tried to interview injured military personnel.
Their tape-recorder was seized.
