Eye of the storm: FATA reporters brave frontlines with no support from ‘settled’ countrymen
With Press Freedom Day come and gone, 300 physically impaired journalists continue to put up their fight.
“The youth is reluctant to join our profession, as there are many threats and no compensation.” says a journalist. PHOTO: FILE
GHALLANAI:
Ziaullah Khan, 30, is a journalist just like his father Shahnawaz Khan. Hailing from Mohmand Agency, Shahnawaz is also the founder of a local union of journalists with disabilities, All Pakistan Special Union of Journalists and Writers.
While the rest of the world observed Press Freedom Day on Saturday, the plight of around 300 journalists from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) continued to go unnoticed.
Like his father, Zia also has a problem with his eyesight and faces many hurdles in his work as a result. At an event held in Mohmand Press Club (MPC), Zia revealed that he had been suffering from visual impairment for a long time and that there is no chance of a natural recovery.
“My fear is that I might lose my sight completely if it keeps deteriorating this way,” says the journalist, who is also a father of four. “It is tough to even educate my children as I get no fixed salary or compensation from any journalism organisation.”
Zia says he also appealed to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor and information minister in the past for his treatment, but received no reply.
The frontline reporters, who have put their lives at risk year after year, have their own Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), which has offices throughout the tribal areas and a main office in Peshawar. Among four others, one of the journalists at TUJ’s Peshawar office is Arshad Khan; the nephew of the late Mukaram Khan who was shot dead in 2012 by militants who claimed that his organisation did not give them any coverage. Arshad then took up where his uncle left off and now faces the same threats which Mukaram used to. Like other journalists in Fata, though, Arshad must also impose self-censorship to keep the very real security threats at bay.
The day the Shakai Peace Agreement was signed in April 2004 between Nek Muhammad and the government near Wana, three reporters were gunned down in the same area. Since then, 10 more journalists from Fata have lost their lives in the line of duty in the past decade, with Hayatullah Khan Wazir as the first and Malik Mumtaz as the most recent target. Both men were killed by unidentified persons while reporting in North Waziristan.
Similarly, Mohmand Agency has seen the deaths of three journalists in the past four years. Pervez Khan and Abdul Wahab were killed in bomb blasts, while Mukaram Khan was gunned down in his own home.
Brother of the late Pervez Khan, Tajwali told The Express Tribune he had not received any compensation for the loss of his brother. Bringing up the four children left behind by Pervez, he said, can prove to be a very difficult task with no support extended by anyone.
Ex-President of MPC Shakirullah Khan said the organisation has 38 members and its own building which was constructed in 2004. However, he added that MPC faces many financial hurdles due to lack of journalism activities such as news conferences, which is a major financial source for a press club. Shakirullah said they do not receive financial grants from any authorities, except for a nominal amount given by the political administration, which is quickly used up in salaries.
“Journalists here have no other source of income,” said Shakirullah. “This is why the youth is reluctant to join our profession, as there are many threats and no compensation.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2014.
Ziaullah Khan, 30, is a journalist just like his father Shahnawaz Khan. Hailing from Mohmand Agency, Shahnawaz is also the founder of a local union of journalists with disabilities, All Pakistan Special Union of Journalists and Writers.
While the rest of the world observed Press Freedom Day on Saturday, the plight of around 300 journalists from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) continued to go unnoticed.
Like his father, Zia also has a problem with his eyesight and faces many hurdles in his work as a result. At an event held in Mohmand Press Club (MPC), Zia revealed that he had been suffering from visual impairment for a long time and that there is no chance of a natural recovery.
“My fear is that I might lose my sight completely if it keeps deteriorating this way,” says the journalist, who is also a father of four. “It is tough to even educate my children as I get no fixed salary or compensation from any journalism organisation.”
Zia says he also appealed to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor and information minister in the past for his treatment, but received no reply.
The frontline reporters, who have put their lives at risk year after year, have their own Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), which has offices throughout the tribal areas and a main office in Peshawar. Among four others, one of the journalists at TUJ’s Peshawar office is Arshad Khan; the nephew of the late Mukaram Khan who was shot dead in 2012 by militants who claimed that his organisation did not give them any coverage. Arshad then took up where his uncle left off and now faces the same threats which Mukaram used to. Like other journalists in Fata, though, Arshad must also impose self-censorship to keep the very real security threats at bay.
The day the Shakai Peace Agreement was signed in April 2004 between Nek Muhammad and the government near Wana, three reporters were gunned down in the same area. Since then, 10 more journalists from Fata have lost their lives in the line of duty in the past decade, with Hayatullah Khan Wazir as the first and Malik Mumtaz as the most recent target. Both men were killed by unidentified persons while reporting in North Waziristan.
Similarly, Mohmand Agency has seen the deaths of three journalists in the past four years. Pervez Khan and Abdul Wahab were killed in bomb blasts, while Mukaram Khan was gunned down in his own home.
Brother of the late Pervez Khan, Tajwali told The Express Tribune he had not received any compensation for the loss of his brother. Bringing up the four children left behind by Pervez, he said, can prove to be a very difficult task with no support extended by anyone.
Ex-President of MPC Shakirullah Khan said the organisation has 38 members and its own building which was constructed in 2004. However, he added that MPC faces many financial hurdles due to lack of journalism activities such as news conferences, which is a major financial source for a press club. Shakirullah said they do not receive financial grants from any authorities, except for a nominal amount given by the political administration, which is quickly used up in salaries.
“Journalists here have no other source of income,” said Shakirullah. “This is why the youth is reluctant to join our profession, as there are many threats and no compensation.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2014.