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REPORTS |
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Dangerous Territory for Journalists
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The murderous attack on some journalists was not the only sign of trouble for the media in the tribal areas of Pakistan . The government authorities, particularly the military, made it amply clear on more than one occasion that journalists were persona non grata in the parts of the tribal areas under their control. The two journalists killed – Amir Nawab Khan, cameraman for Associated Press Television News and reporter for daily The Frontier Post, Allah Noor Wazir, reporter for independent television channel Khyber and daily The Nation – and Mujeebur Rehman of daily Khabrain were stopped by military authorities on June 12, 2004 as they tried to reach the Shakai region of the tribal areas. Their cameras and videotapes were seized. Dilawar Wazir, a stringer with BBC World Service , was threatened for reporting the event. Then on June 13, 2004 , the political administration of tribal areas' Khyber Agency denied entry to a group of Peshawar-based reporters to stop them from covering a council of tribal elders convened by Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami protesting the military operations in the areas. Roshan Mehsud, a local representative of the administration, told the journalists that the entry of reporters to cover any event inside the tribal area was banned by the governor of the North West Frontier Province . On September 21, 2004 , Sailab Mehsud, reporter for daily The News and president of Tribal Union of Journalists, Irfan Siddiqui of ARY television, Shaukat Khattak of Geo television and journalists Anwar Masood, Alam Gir, Sheikh Rehmatullah and Irfan Khan were manhandled and stopped from entering the tribal areas near Jandola by the authorities who told them there was ban on entering the area. This was a week after the Pakistani interior minister at a press conference had invited journalists to the same area. |
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Not only were these journalists representing independent media physically barred from reporting events of significant public importance, senior government functionaries issued verbal warnings to let them know of the dangerous path they tread. |
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At a press conference in Peshawar on October 12, 2004 , Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed warned media outlets against “glorifying terrorists,” adding: “those seen to be speaking on behalf of terrorists will also be considered terrorists.” He threatened that “those portraying terrorists as heroes can be tried under the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2001.” This law makes it an offence for individuals and media organisations to project persons convicted for terrorist acts or for religious sectarianism. Pakistan 's national editors' association, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) strongly criticised the statement saying “the warning of action under the Anti-Terrorism Act is a serious threat to press freedom” and “[Pakistani] newspapers perform their professional obligations and patriotic duty by providing correct information and news to the people.” A CPNE spokesperson emphasized that one of the primary responsibilities of the media is to inform the citizens of events within the country. “If the government thinks its image is being tarnished, it should try to better its governance rather than blaming the media or restricting its coverage of events,” he added. |
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On September 9, 2004 , while addressing a panel of journalists in Peshawar , military spokesman and press secretary to the president Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said that the ban on movement of journalists in South Waziristan Agency of the tribal areas was justified “because certain journalists had helped the foreign media to malign Pakistan .” He identified Khawar Mehdi and Sami Yousafzai, who were arrested for working with foreign reporters, as being the culprits. He defended the tough restrictions on journalists on the ground that they “sell the national interest in return for a few hundred dollars.” |
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The government authorities were not the only ones who made life difficult for journalists. On November 6, 2004 , Qazi Muhammad Rauf , correspondent for daily Express in the Khyber Agency of the tribal areas was kidnapped by armed men belonging to the Sheikhmalkhel tribe. Angered by his coverage of their clashes between them and the ultra-orthodox Talibanesque organization Amr Bill Maroof wa Nahee Anil Munkar (prevention of vice and promotion of virtue), Rauf was kept at a private detention center and badly beaten before being rescued the next day by his colleagues. |
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To be fair, independent media was not the only one that had a rough time in the tribal areas; the state-owned media too was at the receiving end of suspected militant. On July 27, 2004 , an FM radio station set up by the Pakistan government in South Waziristan Agency was bombed by militants sympathetic to Al Qaeda and Taliban battling state forces. The attack on the station, situated in Wana town, came a week after it was inaugurated by the authorities. Two big explosions seriously damaged the antenna during the attack, followed by an exchange of fire between the assailants and security forces. Fortunately no staffer of the station, which airs transmissions in the Pashto language, was hurt in the attack. |
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