Reporting under the Sword of Damocles
Journalists in K-P and Fata walking tightrope as militants and agencies threaten them.
PESHAWAR:
“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard,” wrote French philosopher Voltaire, but unfortunately for journalists in Pakistan, peril, risk and hazard come all too often.
The death of tribal journalist Nasrullah Afridi in a targeted attack in a densely populated residential area of the Peshawar Cantonment is a grim reminder of the worst working conditions for journalists in the militancy and violence-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and its tribal areas.
The attack was planned and Afridi, who was defying death threats since 2007, did not have a second chance as bellowing flames engulfed his car moments after the blast. By the time the fire had been extinguished and Afridi’s charred remains recognised, disbelief had cast its shadow over the journalists here, as another comrade had fallen in the line of duty, his name the most recent in a long list of fallen mediapersons.
Waziristan, Swat, Bajaur, Hangu, Kohat, Peshawar and Khyber Agency are just a few of the places journalists were killed or caught in the cycle of violence plaguing this region. Afridi joins Hayatullah Khan, Musa Khankhel, Janullah Hashimzada, Abdul Wahab, Misri Khan and a host of others who fell to the senseless violence.
Afridi had been defying death for the last four years. It was back in 2007 when a bunch of zealots led by a local warlord forced him out of Bara, his hometown, in Khyber Agency. He moved to the high secuirty posh Hayatabad township of Peshawar but in mid 2007, grenades were lobbed at his home in Hayatabad. Fortunately, he and his family escaped unhurt.
Sadly, it was only a matter of time before the militants caught up with him.
‘Stubborn’ was a word often used for members of the militant outfit by a senior official of Peshawar police back in 2008, when the outfit was at loggerheads with a media group, after its newspapers ridiculed the warlord in its editorials. Police officials were quietly supportive but erred on the side of caution and advised the paper’s employees to ‘patch up’ with the militant outfit.
“These people are very callous and ferocious and we cannot protect all the employees round the clock,” the official said, adding, “We could only provide a police guard at the office but that is not sufficient to protect everyone.”
With their employees’ living in danger and no other solution available, the paper published an apology; however, even that was not acceptable to militants.
The reporters while performing their professional duties are not only exposed to physical threats from militants as well as secuirty personnel but at the same time face self-censorship unable to report facts. Unarmed media personnel could very easily be singled out and attacked. The militanst even dispatched a suicide bomber to Peshawar Press Club (PPC) in December 2009.
Tribal reporters are even more vulnerable as pressure from both the militants and the authorities has left them hovering between the devil and the deep blue sea, as both waring parties seem ‘disinclined’ to the truth being revealed. The threat level is also much higher for Urdu and television reporters, with English reporters enjoying a certain degree of leeway as most militants do not read English papers. A large number of media persons migrate from tribal areas to save their lives amid imminent threats.
Indeed, journalism has become a risky business in K-P and the tribal areas and a journalist has to maintain a delicate balance in what he writes and reports, for fear of having a target placed on their heads by the militants or spooks.
Unfortunately, today there is no one like Zamir Niazi to document this painful episode in the history of journalism. Fortunately, the element of defiance has been a very lively part of the subcontinent’s journalism since its inception. James Augustus Hickey, the father of Indian journalism, had to go to jail and saw his typewriters seized by the authorities after he marched forward with scathing attacks in his columns on the East India Company’s loot and plunder. This tradition remained alive as journalists were flogged under Zia’s tyranny. However, killing the messenger is the new motto, but the voices of dissent, courage and hope will continue to be raised even in the darkest of times, though some are even eliminated for standing up for their right to say nay.
According to media reports at least 13 journalists have lost their lives in the line of duty during the last 16 months in different parts of the country.
Many journalists were also kidnapped by militants and security forces in the tribal areas. “Media has become sandwiched between state and non-state actors and
is threatened by both sides,” says senior journalist
Imtiaz Gul.
As Faiz put it: “A lifetime’s devotion and yearning have I given, not in vain, that the nightingales play, to roses in full bloom. It must come, it will come. My reason, my dream. Does it matter if I
am gone? Others will share the ecstasy.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2011.
“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard,” wrote French philosopher Voltaire, but unfortunately for journalists in Pakistan, peril, risk and hazard come all too often.
The death of tribal journalist Nasrullah Afridi in a targeted attack in a densely populated residential area of the Peshawar Cantonment is a grim reminder of the worst working conditions for journalists in the militancy and violence-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and its tribal areas.
The attack was planned and Afridi, who was defying death threats since 2007, did not have a second chance as bellowing flames engulfed his car moments after the blast. By the time the fire had been extinguished and Afridi’s charred remains recognised, disbelief had cast its shadow over the journalists here, as another comrade had fallen in the line of duty, his name the most recent in a long list of fallen mediapersons.
Waziristan, Swat, Bajaur, Hangu, Kohat, Peshawar and Khyber Agency are just a few of the places journalists were killed or caught in the cycle of violence plaguing this region. Afridi joins Hayatullah Khan, Musa Khankhel, Janullah Hashimzada, Abdul Wahab, Misri Khan and a host of others who fell to the senseless violence.
Afridi had been defying death for the last four years. It was back in 2007 when a bunch of zealots led by a local warlord forced him out of Bara, his hometown, in Khyber Agency. He moved to the high secuirty posh Hayatabad township of Peshawar but in mid 2007, grenades were lobbed at his home in Hayatabad. Fortunately, he and his family escaped unhurt.
Sadly, it was only a matter of time before the militants caught up with him.
‘Stubborn’ was a word often used for members of the militant outfit by a senior official of Peshawar police back in 2008, when the outfit was at loggerheads with a media group, after its newspapers ridiculed the warlord in its editorials. Police officials were quietly supportive but erred on the side of caution and advised the paper’s employees to ‘patch up’ with the militant outfit.
“These people are very callous and ferocious and we cannot protect all the employees round the clock,” the official said, adding, “We could only provide a police guard at the office but that is not sufficient to protect everyone.”
With their employees’ living in danger and no other solution available, the paper published an apology; however, even that was not acceptable to militants.
The reporters while performing their professional duties are not only exposed to physical threats from militants as well as secuirty personnel but at the same time face self-censorship unable to report facts. Unarmed media personnel could very easily be singled out and attacked. The militanst even dispatched a suicide bomber to Peshawar Press Club (PPC) in December 2009.
Tribal reporters are even more vulnerable as pressure from both the militants and the authorities has left them hovering between the devil and the deep blue sea, as both waring parties seem ‘disinclined’ to the truth being revealed. The threat level is also much higher for Urdu and television reporters, with English reporters enjoying a certain degree of leeway as most militants do not read English papers. A large number of media persons migrate from tribal areas to save their lives amid imminent threats.
Indeed, journalism has become a risky business in K-P and the tribal areas and a journalist has to maintain a delicate balance in what he writes and reports, for fear of having a target placed on their heads by the militants or spooks.
Unfortunately, today there is no one like Zamir Niazi to document this painful episode in the history of journalism. Fortunately, the element of defiance has been a very lively part of the subcontinent’s journalism since its inception. James Augustus Hickey, the father of Indian journalism, had to go to jail and saw his typewriters seized by the authorities after he marched forward with scathing attacks in his columns on the East India Company’s loot and plunder. This tradition remained alive as journalists were flogged under Zia’s tyranny. However, killing the messenger is the new motto, but the voices of dissent, courage and hope will continue to be raised even in the darkest of times, though some are even eliminated for standing up for their right to say nay.
According to media reports at least 13 journalists have lost their lives in the line of duty during the last 16 months in different parts of the country.
Many journalists were also kidnapped by militants and security forces in the tribal areas. “Media has become sandwiched between state and non-state actors and
is threatened by both sides,” says senior journalist
Imtiaz Gul.
As Faiz put it: “A lifetime’s devotion and yearning have I given, not in vain, that the nightingales play, to roses in full bloom. It must come, it will come. My reason, my dream. Does it matter if I
am gone? Others will share the ecstasy.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2011.