Journalists in Pakistan under increasing danger

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement asking the government of Pakistan to better protect journalists covering the growing war against militancy in the South Asian nation.

“There is growing concern for the safety of journalists in Pakistan amid a surge in attacks apparently by militant groups who cannot abide critical reporting. President Asif Ali Zardari must act swiftly to assert the government’s authority and reverse this trend,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

The statement from CPJ comes a day after Imtiaz Alam, the secretary general of the South Asia Free Media Association (SAMFA), a regional press freedom group,  was attacked by four men wielding hockey sticks late last night near his home in the eastern city of Lahore.

Earlier in the week, Musa Khan Khel, a  journalist with Geo TV, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Swat Valley in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).  Khan Khel was in the valley covering celebrations by supporters of a local Taliban leader and cleric two days after Islamabad allowed the Taliban to impose Shariat (Islamic law) in the area.

The CPJ reports that in 2008, journalist killings went largely uninvestigated.  The watchdog group says at least 10 slayings since 1998 have gone unsolved, which put Pakistan 12th on CPJ’s Impunity Index. Compiled for the first time in 2008, the index calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population. The higher a nation’s ranking, the more dangerous it is for the press.

A high-level government investigation into the 2006 slaying of reporter Hayatullah Khan still remains secret. Khan was abducted in December 2005 after reporting evidence that the U.S. was responsible for an attack on a house along the Afghan border that killed an al-Qaeda leader and several villagers.

Khan was a contributer to the documentary program FRONTLINE on PBS.  A story about his work and the circumstances surrounding his death can be found HERE on the FRONTLINE website.

- Scott

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