Local govt seizes Skardu Press Club building, hands it over to district hospital.
In the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), the already-dismal state of press freedom might be touching a new and shameful low.
For the past three weeks, Skardu’s journalists have been protesting against what they claim to be the G-B government’s crackdown on news reporters and media organisations who are trying to expose bad governance and corruption.
At a protest camp set up next to the city’s famous martyrs’ monument, the journalists recount horrific stories from the recent past, replete with allegations. According to the them, district and G-B government authorities have harassed reporters and editors, booked journalists on false charges and even pressured national broadcast news outlets to fire reporters who are investigating the government’s spending and performance.
Skardu’s journalists are facing threats that are not unique to Pakistan’s media landscape — the country was ranked 159 out of 179 countries in the 2013 Press Freedom Index released by Reporters without Borders — but their plight was amplified on May 29 when the district government seized the Skardu Press Club building and handed it over to the district hospital, evicting the journalists.
The building, located around two miles from the city centre, was “legally” allotted to the journalists by the government in 2002, according to Skardu Press Club President Nisar Abbas.
The journalists are protesting the crude manner in which the district government moved to take control of the building, which they believe is a manifestation of G-B Chief Minister Mehdi Shah’s policy of control and confrontation towards journalists.
They claim that the police had cordoned off a one-kilometer stretch of the road near the press club at 1am on May 29, confiscated furniture and equipment before occupying the building. The equipment was not returned and that the police had refused to register a case for the missing items, said a local reporter, while talking to The Express Tribune.
“We could have been notified that the government wanted us to vacate the building,” said Abbas. “Why did they have to move in the thick of the night? This is no way to treat journalists.”
Skardu Deputy Commissioner Qamar Shehzad said the journalists had been notified “perhaps one to two years ago” to vacate the premises.
He said the journalists already have another press club building. He was referring to a 121-square-yard three-room building that was given to the media in 2008 to establish a camp office in the city. The journalists have since locked up the camp office in protest as well, said sources.
Traders, clerics and representatives of G-B’s opposition parties have tried to intervene on behalf of Skardu’s journalists, who have said that they will not accept favours because they are concerned that questions may be raised over their impartiality and professionalism.
“We want the public to know about the performance of their elected representatives,” said Ijaz Hussain, editor of a local Urdu daily newspaper. “It is our duty to inform the public.”
While Skardu’s journalists have been on a symbolic hunger strike for three weeks, little information of their struggle has trickled down to the larger cities. Journalists’ unions have remained silent on the issue, which has left Skardu’s journalists feeling alone and betrayed.
“The government is trying to crush journalists here, so they can never expose the government’s wrongdoings,” said Abbas. “We request the journalistic community in Pakistan to support G-B’s journalists in their struggle against government repression.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2013.
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