By Urooj Zia

Media personnel in Pakistan have some much-needed good news: the government has finally announced a judicial commission to investigate journalist (and author of the recently-published 'Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11') Saleem Shahzad's kidnapping and murder.

Shahzad passed away sometime between 30 May and 1 June 2011. He had disappeared suddenly from Islamabad while on his way to record an interview at a television station. Three days later, his body was recovered from his car which had been dumped in Mandi Bahauddin, a couple of hours outside Islamabad. According to initial reports, his clothes had been changed, ostensibly to hide the fact that the ones that he had been wearing when he was picked up were in tatters due to the torture that he had endured, and which had led to his death.

Journalists have since maintained that Shahzad was killed on account of his work: his last story for the Asia Times, while largely harmless, contained two points of note: first, he had stated unequivocally in his lead paragraph that al-Qaeda was responsible for the recent attacks on PNS Mehran in Karachi; secondly, in the middle of his piece, he had spoken about Jihadi cells that, he claimed, were operating within the armed forces. Suspicion has primarily fallen on the security agencies of Pakistan, which, in their turn, have rushed to deny all allegations. Several senior media personnel, however, including All-Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) President, have refuted these denials and backed reports of death threats issued to Shahzad by officials from departments affiliated with the country's security agencies. The APNS suggestions have been seconded by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Over the past few years, Pakistan has steadily risen to the position of being the most dangerous country in which to work as a journalist. Per an year-end report published by the CPJ, at least eight journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2010 as a result of, among other things, suicide attacks and street violence. In a more recent report, the CPJ has maintained that journalists in Pakistan are victimised by a range of actors, including “militant and extremist groups, criminals and thugs, and, despite official denials, the military and security establishment”. Shahzad’s kidnapping and brutal murder, the Committee maintains, was “likely meant to send a message to journalists in Pakistan to end their criticism of its powerful military and security establishment”.

The primary reason for the increase in threats and acts of violence against journalists, meanwhile, is the fact that perpetrators generally operate with impunity. Only a few of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's killers have been brought to justice since his 2002 beheading, the CPJ has maintained, adding that his was the only trial of this sort in Pakistan that the Committee is aware of since it started keeping records in 1992.

Given this, the government's decision to set up a judicial commission to investigate Shahzad's murder, and support from elected representatives from the democratic government, are indeed welcome. Activists and lobbying groups concerned, meanwhile, need to ensure that the investigation is actually conducted thoroughly and impartially, and does not lapse into the annals of bureaucratic red-tape.

By Huma Imtiaz

As 2010 comes to a close, Pakistan’s journalists are in mourning for their colleagues that have been taken from them in incidents of bombings and targeted killings. At least eight journalists have been killed in Pakistan this year, with three in September and two in December alone at the hands of violent extremists who have wreaked havoc in the country with suicide bombings that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people in Pakistan this year (CPJ).

While the sacrifices of these brave journalists will not go unnoticed, several elements in the print media are abusing the hard-earned freedoms these journalists have struggled for. The electronic media in Pakistan is still in its teething phase, having only been in existence for the last eight years. Pakistan’s print publications, on the other hand, have been around for decades. It is therefore extremely disappointing that several papers recently printed incorrect stories that have either been issued by unknown elements, or have been printed to capitalize on confusion with little regard for accuracy.

In December 2010, following Cablegate i.e. the publishing of confidential cables leaked by the organization Wikileaks, several of Pakistan’s leading newspapers in Urdu and English including The News, Jang, Nawa-e-Waqt, The Nation and Express Tribune published a story sourced from a wire agency Online that was based on fake Wikileaks cables. The focus of the story was US relations with India, which painted Indian generals in a bad light.

The body of Abdul Hameed Hayatan, a young Baloch journalist who was kidnapped in the southwestern port city of Gwadar on 25 October, was found beside the River Sami in Turbat, 40 km to the east, on 18 November.

His reporting critical of the Pakistani authorities and his support for the Baloch national movement were almost certainly the motive for his abduction and murder.

“If the local and federal authorities want to rein in the violence in the province of Balochistan, they must conduct an exhaustive and impartial investigation into Abdul Hameed Hayatan’s murder,” Reporters Without Borders said. “If it goes unpunished, the province’s journalists will have every right to treat it as another extrajudicial execution.”

Hayatan was shot in the head and chest. Marks on his body clearly indicated that he was tortured before being killed. The body of a student, Hamid Ismail, was found alongside Hayatan’s. In a reference to a Muslim Eid (festival) that has just ended, a message found with the bodies said: “Eid present for the Baloch people.”

Journalists based in Balochistan told Reporters Without Borders that Hayatan was probably murdered by members of the security forces (who are fighting Baloch armed separatists) or a Jihadi group.

Balochistan is by far the most dangerous region in Pakistan for the media. Three other reporters have been killed there this year. One was gunned down in June and two others were killed in suicide bombings, in April and September.

Several cases of extrajudicial executions of journalists in Pakistan have not been investigated properly. They include the 2006 abduction and murder of Hayatullah Khan in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Image Courtesy: The Baloch Hal