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Media in Pakistan: Growing Space, Shrinking Freedoms Annual Report on State of Media Freedoms in Pakistan

By Adnan Rehmat and Matiullah Jan

World Press Freedom Day May 03, 2005

Chapter 1: GROWING SPACE, SHRINKING FREEDOMS

No moment has been dull this past year for the media in Pakistan, the gains and losses being dramatic in equal measures. Even as space for media grew by leaps and bounds – largely in the broadcast realm – so did attacks and intimidation, both in the print and electronic sectors, shrinking media freedoms for its practitioners. The paradox of a larger media canvas but fewer colors is a reflection of the ideological battle in Pakistan between conservative Islamist parties and the government agenda of enlightened moderation on the one side and the constant tug of war for freedom of expression and access to information between the media and civil society and the government on the other.

Even as a dozen new private FM radio stations and half a dozen independent television channels began operations – several of them focusing on news-based programming for an information-starved country, thereby expanding the space for free media – Pakistani journalists can be excused for their sense of déjà vu as an all too familiar pattern unfolded for yet another year: murder, terrorism, kidnapping, physical assault, imprisonment, torture, trial in courts, news blackouts, policy coercion, censorship and banning of publications.

Several uncomfortable patterns have crystallized as far as the attacks and intimidation of media in Pakistan went in the past 12 months. For instance, more journalists and media organizations were attacked and intimidated this year (May 3, 2004 to May 3, 2005) – at least 120 journalists – than the previous year (May 3, 2003 to May 3, 2004) – about 70. The worst case was that of two journalists killed in cold blood by unidentified people as the journalists reported the military operations in the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan. This makes Pakistan only one of a handful of countries in the world where journalists were killed in the period under review.

The statistics of shame include at least two journalists killed, at least 26 injured in assaults including a female reporter, the house of one was bombed, one was kidnapped and beaten, one was placed under house arrest to prevent him from covering an event the government was edgy about and one got a threatening visit from intelligence agents at his home (the second year running for the same journalist). Well over 100 journalists were coercively prevented from coverage of arrival from abroad of two major opposition leaders in two separate events, both centred round the Lahore airport.

The range of intimidation of media varied from attacks at the office, in the field and in at least two instances even at home. The growing variety of identified intimidators of the media was also troubling: the government, military, police, intelligence agencies, religious groups and even political parties getting into the act. In some cases the identity of attackers also worryingly remains a mystery.

The targets of the media intimidation expanded from last year’s list of newspapers, journalists, freelancers and television stations to include independent radio this year while censorship took its familiar forms of press advice from the government, banning of publications, ban on government advertising for newspapers and in selective instances controlling or regulating content such as forcing off an exiled opposition leader’s interview on a private television channel and preventing re-broadcasts of news bulletins on a radio station.

The intimidation from various sectors, primarily the government but also private players, unhappy with media freedoms was aimed at obstructing coverage of public events and corruption and abuse of power by public servants. Instances include aggressively preventing coverage of public activities by opposition parties and preventing making parts of the tribal areas where the military was engaged in operations against terrorists de facto no-go areas for journalists.

Ominously, even as government functionaries including President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed regularly highlighted granting licenses to more and more private radio and television channels, some media laws were toughened up designed to make life difficult for media practitioners. Penalties in the defamation law, for instance, were raised drastically designed to force journalists to impose varying degrees of self censorship. Similarly, an amendment bill was tabled in the parliament that introduces unprecedented powers to police to arrest journalists/broadcasters without warrant besides giving to the government greater control of the regulatory authority.

While private media operators in Pakistan bring pluralism to the communications spectrum, the role of the state owned media continues to leave a lot to be desired. An informed citizenry is only possible with unrestricted information flows in languages it understands and content that is relevant to the people’s lives. Sadly, both the state broadcasters – Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan – are known more for what they don’t tell you than what they do. Both continue to drag their feet on reforms to fulfil its public service obligations. These organizations continued to act as a propaganda tool of the government, distorting the competitive environment in media industry by exercising their monopoly in terrestrial and national radio frequency fields. The state broadcasters continue their glaring blackouts of main opposition parties and leaders, giving a twisted and lopsided coverage of parliamentary proceedings, which are not open for coverage to private electronic media.

One of the government’s biggest boast this past year has been about how it has liberated the media and is increasing the space for media by issuing radio and television licenses, thereby encouraging democracy and dialogue. The brag is not misplaced; the government deserves all credit for opening up the media. But the issue here is not whether there is freedom of expression in the country now or not – even in the darkest times in Pakistan such as those under another military ruler General Ziaul Haq’s, the private press was one of Pakistan’s few saving graces – but whether it is enough.

Consider: The state broadcasters have terrestrial licenses, universal outreach to audiences and no independent regulation. The private broadcasters on the other hand, are not allowed to have terrestrial operation thereby drastically restricting access to audiences through a medium such as a decoder or cable system and are regulated by the government under stringent laws. The government claims that the opening up of the media is a manifestation of enlightened moderation. If that is indeed the case, then why keep a majority of the population a captive audience? Why not create a level playing field and give all broadcasters in the country, private and public, universal access to all citizens? With these glaring distortions in the media law policy framework, media freedoms in Pakistan continue to shrink even as the space for media grows.

Killed in the Line of Duty

Amir Nawab Khan, cameraman for Associated Press Television News and reporter for daily The Frontier Post, and Allah Noor Wazir, reporter for independent television channel Khyber and daily The Nation were killed by gunmen in South Waziristan Agency of Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Anwar Shakir, stringer for Agence France-Presse and daily Islam and Zardad Khan of television channel Al-Jazeera were wounded in the same attack. The journalists were returning from attending a reception that saw rebel tribal militant Baitullah Mehsud surrender before the military authorities and sign a peace agreement in the town of Sararogha. The four journalists, along with six others, were travelling in the same vehicle when near Wana town it came under a hail of Kalashnikov fire from a passing car, killing Khan and Wazir instantly. A week later an unknown group by the name of Sipah-e-Islam (Soldiers of Islam) owned up the killings. In a letter faxed to newspapers, it said, “We take responsibility for the murder of the two journalists in South Waziristan last week. Some [journalists] have been working for Christians and serving [them] negative propaganda against mujahideen…”

According to accounts by the journalists travelling in the van, provided by the government, they were in the town of Wana barely 50 yards from the army’s regional headquarters and near official buildings protected by security forces around 7 pm when a car overtook them and two persons, one in the front seat and one at the back, pulled out AK-47 assault rifles and opened fire at them. Wazir died on the spot by taking a shot on the head while Khan also died soon after being hit in the neck. The attack happened in the view of the paramilitary post whose security persons made no move to stop the assailants who kept firing for a while before moving away at a normal speed. It was some time before the tribal militia and some students of a nearby seminary rushed to help them and take the injured to a hospital. Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, the leader of the military operations in the tribal areas against Al Qaeda and Taliban activists and supporters, announced to pay the families of the slain reporters Rs 250,000 ($4,000) each and promised to find and punish the attackers. Governor North West Frontier Province, Lt Gen Iftikhar Hussain, as well as Federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, made the same promises but no arrests have been made.

Dangerous Territory for Journalists

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

The Force of Law against Media

No punishment or threat of punishment was severe enough for the government authorities to brandish before the media this year. Sedition, disclosing official secrets, treason, public nuisance – journalists were charged with all this and more. On July 31, 2004, Sarwar Mujahid, reporter for daily Nawa-i-Waqt, was arrested at his home by police under the Maintenance of Public Order Act, which states that a person may be detained for three months if the government feels they represent “a threat to public order.” His crime was reporting the conflict between the army and agricultural laborers in Okara region of Punjab province, who for years have been cultivating land belonging to the army and are refusing to leave their farms. The same month Human Rights Watch released a report condemning military repression, including torture, against the peasants in Okara district. He was released on bail on October 12, 2004. On November 4, 2004, Ghulam Shehzad Agha, editor of Kargil International magazine, was arrested from Skardu in the north and charged with backing autonomy for Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the country’s dispute with India. His magazine was banned on September 8, 2004 for allegedly carrying seditious and unpatriotic news.

On June 8, 2004, freelance journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi went on trial in an anti-terrorism court in the southwestern city of Quetta on charges of sedition, conspiracy, and impersonation. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and stem from his work as a fixer for two French journalists, Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau from the newsweekly L’Express, in December 2003, researching a story about Taliban activity along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. After the three returned to Karachi on December 16, 2003, the authorities arrested the French journalists on visa violations. Rizvi was also held but the authorities officially denied holding him until January 24, 2004 when he was formally charged with fabricating video footage of Taliban activity in Pakistan. Rizvi throughout claimed innocence and said he was tortured in custody. He was released on bail on March 29, 2004 and fled the country. On April 23, 2005, the court acquitted Rizvi of all charges against him citing insufficient evidence of guilt.

On August 13, 2004, Raja Khawar Nawaz, the editor of Nawa-i-Hurriyat magazine was arrested in Muzafarabad on orders of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court chief justice. He had appeared before the court after being served a contempt notice for publishing “libelous and fictional material with a view to lowering the prestige and harassing the members of the superior judiciary.” Nawaz tendered an unconditional apology saying he had “printed the write-ups at the behest of and on the basis of a file provided to him by an intelligence agency personnel without personally investigating or verifying it.” On February 5, 2005, Afzal Nadeem, senior reporter of daily Awam, was booked under the Official Secrets Act in Karachi for reporting the contents of a letter by the National Crisis Management Cell. The letter, sent to the top bureaucrat of each of the four provinces of Pakistan, sought their intervention in stopping an ethnic party from forcible collection of donations for the Asian tsunami victims from businesses and public forums. The Act carries punishment ranging from one year imprisonment to death.

The government also moved to tighten laws applicable to the media this past year. On August 19, 2004, the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament, amended the controversial Defamation Ordinance 2002 despite objections from the media and opposition political parties. The penalties for those found guilty of slander or libel were dramatically enhanced from a minimum fine of Rs 50,000 ($835) to Rs 100,000 ($1,665) and/or a prison term of up to five years, up from three months. In the last week of April 2005, the government put before the National Assembly an amendment bill seeking to toughen the electronic media law. On March 15, 2005, the government pushed through in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting a set of amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002, which, if approved by both houses of national parliament, will make it easier for the authorities to arrest broadcasters, cancel radio and television licenses, enhance control over broadcast content and raise fines on broadcasters a staggering tenfold, among the litany of proposed changes.

Chapter 2: BAD SIGNALS FOR THE BROADCAST MEDIA

By the time that the World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2005, came around, the Pakistan government authorities had tabled a bill in the National Assembly, the lower house of the bicameral parliament, seeking to amend the national broadcast law which, if adopted and approved by both houses of parliament, would signal a new era of greater government control over the airwaves, thus stunting the growth of independent electronic media in the country by reversing their newfound freedoms.

The striking feature about this process is that the changes to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance, 2002, some of which will radically alter the playing field to the detriment
of the broadcasters, have been proposed without any formal consultation with the stakeholders – neither were the legislators adequately sensitized about the issues nor were any representatives of the radio or TV sector or consumer and media interest groups invited for their inputs.

The proposed amendments aim to toughen the regulatory regime by blurring the distinction between news media and entertainment media by way of equating broadcasters (who generate original content) with cable channel distributors (who are not media outlets). It is not that PEMRA Ordinance 2002 was too good to be amended; it is just that the progressive development of the broadcast sector may convert to a regression if the changes are approved without a proper debate inside and outside parliament.

Here are some of the salient aspects of the proposed amendment to the broadcast law.

Arrest and prosecution of broadcasters made easy

The amendments give new powers to the local police to arrest, detain and prosecute private TV and radio license holders and broadcasters after accusing them of “repeated violation” of PEMRA laws. Any broadcaster or radio/TV/cable licensee who, in the opinion of the local police, repeatedly violates, or abets the repeat violation of, any of the 40 provisions of the broadcast law, can be arrested, jailed and prosecuted. Some offences have been made compoundable and cognizable. First-time violations will, however, require only the Authority, not the police, to act. The regulator maintains that the police powers have been enhanced to deal with the “cable operators’ mafia”. They however admit that under the law until broadcasters are specifically exempted they would continue to be treated like the cable operators regardless of their relationship with the news media.

Regulator assumes decisive numerical superiority over broadcasters

Another amendment expands the PEMRA Board membership from 9 to 12. This will disturb the existing numerical superiority of 5 private sector representatives over the government’s three ex-officio members and one chairman in the nine-member Authority. This means that the broadcast sector’s fate will be decided by officials beholden to the government rather than the broadcasters themselves. Under the law, the Authority’s decisions are taken by majority principle. The new 12 members will comprise the Central Board of Revenue chairman as ex-officio member and two members to be appointed by the government resulting in the imbalance of 5 private sector members to 6 government appointees besides a government appointed chairman.

Cross-media ownership made conditional

The amendments while lifting the ban on cross media ownership also retains the present obligation of the Authority “to ensure that, as far as possible, open and fair competition is facilitated in the operation of more than one channel” and that “undue concentration of media ownership is not created” in any area or in any subject special category of radio TV channels. The bill, however, deletes only the explanation of the above wherein ownership of newspaper or magazine is cited as an example of the undue media concentration. Therefore, through this amendment, while the newspapers is allowed to own more than one media outlet “undue concentration of media ownership” requires PEMRA to act or give the Authority a reason to act, especially against those who might be accused of the same.

Similarly, the bill empowers PEMRA to prescribe a special mechanism to ensure fair competition untainted by cross media ownership. The amendment bill requires PEMRA to prescribe terms and conditions for those “who own more than one media enterprise” and to define “circumstances constituting undue concentration of media ownership and abuse of powers and anticompetitive practices by media companies.” The phrase “abuse of powers” here has far reaching consequences with PEMRA fully empowered to define it in the rules that it will make.

The amendment bill also defines a “newspaper” which according to the amendment is one which the federal government notifies in the official gazette. The definition has been imported from the Press Council Ordinance 2002. However this is an additional requirement wherein only those journals are considered as newspapers qualifying for TV licenses which the government notifies. Indeed not all newspapers will get this privilege like the declaration which any one can get.

Surprise raids and forced recovery of arrears

The amendments require federal, provincial and district governments to assist PEMRA in discharge of its functions. This means the police has been empowered to take action on a report from an authorized PEMRA official. Similarly the bill also allows PEMRA officials along with the police to get a search warrant from “the Court” (which court, it hasn’t been defined) and raid any premises which is suspected of housing an illegal broadcasting station.

Authorized PEMRA officials have also been empowered to inspect premises of the radio/TV station. The present law allowed the same but required the official to do so only “after giving reasonable notice.” This requirement is now deleted from the law. The amendment also adds new clauses wherein the licensee may get right to be heard before illegal broadcast equipment is seized but it is not explained if the official, authorized by the chairman to act against the licensee, will also have powers to accept the explanation of the licensee. The bill further expands the powers of PEMRA to recover arrears and penalties from licensees as arrears of land revenue.

Cancellation of broadcast license made easy

A new disqualification from owning a private radio/TV is part of the amendments. The new ineligibility clause declares as ineligible “any person funded or sponsored by foreign government or organizations”. This can be interpreted as a ban on re-broadcasting foreign news channels that have signed or plan to sign agreements with PEMRA-licensed private radio or TV channels in return for payment for airtime.

The bill also gives discretionary powers to the Authority to vary license conditions and suspend or revoke the license. It calls for abolition of a 3-member committee which is to be constituted, under the present law, by the federal government under the chairmanship of a retired judge of the High Court or Supreme Court. The committee is empowered to render its opinion as to whether or not a licensee has contravened any of the provisions of the broadcast law. The committee’s other members include one representative each from the licensee and the Authority. The bill seeks deletion of the committee-related provision.

Similarly, under the present law the Authority could not suspend or cancel a license “except for reason of necessity in the public interest.” The amendments separate public interest from necessity and through a separate clause allow the Authority to vary terms and conditions of license “in the public interest” without defining it, of course.

Degree of judicial respite for broadcaster reduced

The amendment bill restricts the broadcast licensee’s right to pre-empt a negative order from the regulator by adding to the same clause a provision that allows it to go to High Court only (reducing forums of appeal) within 30 days of an order of the Authority and not a show cause or other notices. The present law leaves room for pre-empting a negative order and seeking a stay against it by the High Court. But the amendment restricts the licensee from moving the High Court before an order of the Authority. It is also not explained if the order of the Authority will not be implemented within 30 days of its passage to allow the licensee to move the court and stay its enforcement unless it is enforced first and then challenged in the court.

Content control by regulator enhanced

A new amendment warns licensees against encouraging different types of criminal acts, as described, and adds to the list: “pornography, obscenity, vulgarity or other material offensive to commonly accepted standards of decency.” The changes in the broadcast law also makes it mandatory for every private radio and TV station to appoint “an in-house committee,” with the approval of the Authority, to ensure compliance of the code of conduct for programs and advertisements. The bill presumes possibility of what it says is “abuse of media power”, something it does not define. The bill authorizes the Authority to prohibit any broadcaster from “engaging in any practice or act which amounts to abuse of media power by way of harming the legitimate interests of another licensee or wilfully causing damage to any other persons.”

Right to freedom of expression as licensing criterion scrapped

A crucial change in the broadcast law is the deletion of the regulator’s existing obligation to expedite the licensing and operation of private radio and TV stations “with the objective of facilitating freedom of expression on the airwaves.” The present law also requires the Authority to ensure that “no unreasonable delay occurs” in processing the applications on the grounds that the federal or provincial governments require unspecified time to complete their procedures. This whole obligation has been scrapped.

Regulator seeks to be both judge and jury

The amendment bill empowers the Authority to appoint members of the Council of Complaints, as against the federal government’s power at present. It also, however, states that the federal government should approve such appointment. The bill also gives powers to the Council to summon a licensee to explain his position on a complaint. This amendment is a negation of the standard principle of self-regulation by independent media.

Broadcasters stripped of constitutional guarantees

The “public interest” argument is also being used to enhance the Authority’s powers to provide exemptions from any provisions of the broadcast law to anyone. The present law requires the Authority that such exemptions “shall be made in conformity with the principles of equality and equity as enshrined in the Constitution.” The amendment bill strips the broadcasters of this constitutional guarantee.

Fines and penalties on broadcasters increased ten-fold

The amendment bill has enhanced the amount of fine which may be imposed by the Authority on any broadcaster a whopping ten-fold, from Rs 1 million to Rs 10 million.

Perks and privileges for regulatory allies

The amendments give payment of Authority-specified fee and expenses to the ex-officio members of PEMRA on equal footing with members. The ex-officio members are: Secretary Ministry of Information, Secretary Interior Division and Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. The bill suggests that any member, other than ex-officio member, shall deem to have vacated his/her seat if he/she absents himself/herself from Authority’s three meetings consecutively “without the leave of the Authority.”

Profiting from regulation of broadcasters

The amendment bill permits the Authority to invest the PEMRA Fund money into business, the money it collects from licensing and other dues. The original law allows utilization of the fund to meet operational charges only.

Chapter 3: CHRONOLOGY OF VIOLATIONS

MEDIA PERSONS KILLED

Amir Nawab Khan and Allah Noor Wazir – February 7, 2005
Amir Nawab Khan, cameraman for Associated Press Television News and reporter for daily The Frontier Post, and Allah Noor Wazir, reporter for independent television channel Khyber and daily The Nation were killed by gunmen in South Waziristan Agency of Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Anwar Shakir, stringer for Agence France-Presse and daily Islam and Zardad Khan of television channel Al-Jazeera were wounded in the same attack. The journalists were returning from attending a reception that saw rebel tribal militant Baitullah Mehsud surrender before the military authorities and sign a peace agreement in the town of Sararogha. The four journalists, along with six others, were traveling in the same vehicle when near Wana town it came under a hail of Kalashnikov fire from a passing car, killing Khan and Wazir instantly. The identity of the attackers has remained a mystery.

MEDIA PERSONS ATTACKED

Nasir Zaidi – May 9, 2004
Veteran journalist Nasir Zaidi of daily The News was assaulted by a police sub-inspector after he tried to stop the sub-inspector beating up a taxi driver in Islamabad. Zaidi had merely urged the law enforcer to book the driver for the alleged traffic violation rather than administering summary justice. Zaidi later registered a complaint with the police, which was never followed up.

Saima Zahoor – July 10, 2004
Saima Zahoor, a journalist with daily Express was assaulted by a government official. She was allegedly slapped and locked in a room by Asif Rahim, the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Environment in Islamabad during a meeting to discuss pollution in the city’s Rawal Lake. The official was incensed by Zahoor’s line of questioning and called a security guard to escort her from the meeting. When she protested, Rahim slapped her and dragged her to a nearby room and locked up. She was freed after her colleagues and police came to her rescue after she called them from her mobile phone.

Sarwar Mujahid – July 31, 2004
Sarwar Mujahid, reporter for daily Nawa-i-Waqt, was arrested at his home by police, without a warrant, and beaten up. He was apparently held for reporting the conflict between the army and agricultural laborers, who for years have been cultivating land belonging to the army and are refusing to leave their farms. The same month Human Rights Watch released a report condemning military repression, including torture, against the peasants in the northeastern Okara district. He was released on bail on October 12, 2004.

Mohammad Bin Yousaf and Mehboob Ali – August 27, 2004
Reporter Mohammad Bin Yousaf and Cameraman Mehboob Ali of independent TV channel Geo were manhandled by officials of the Anti-Narcotics Force and prevented from filming a narcotics raid in Karachi. Their cameras were broken and mobile sets seized. Both were roughed up and kept in jail for several hours before being freed. A tape seized from them was subsequently returned but with the filmed contents erased.

Allah Wario Buzdwar – September 14, 2004
Journalist Allah Wario Buzdwar was attacked at his office in the southeastern town of Ghotki by police officer Nawaz Chandio and four other armed men. Chandio was apparently angered by Buzdwar’s reporting of alleged corruption within the police.

Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui – November 30, 2004
Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui, reporter for daily Dawn, was pounced upon and assaulted by two police officers and 10 other persons in Lahore as they entered the Civil Secretariat, the seat of governance. He was dragged to the office of deputy superintendent of police Yar Dogar who ordered his staff to start another round of beatings, which was complied with. Dogar told Siddiqui he was being punished for writing about police taking bribes from the public in return for letting them into the Secretariat.

Amir Mughal, Muazzam Bhatti, Rai Hasnain, Shadab Riaz, Shujaat Hamid, Abdul Ghafoor, Amir Sohail, Shoaib Ahmad, Asghar Butt and Ijab Mirza – January 14, 2005
Young religious militants of the Imamia Students Organization raided the Lahore Press Club, indiscriminately attacking journalists there, seriously injuring 10 of them. The police stood by as the attackers, angry at what they felt was inadequate press coverage of the murder in the north of the country of Shia leader Agha Ziaudin, beat up the journalists from various newspapers and stoned and firebombed the press club premises.

Khurshid Ahmed - March 3, 2005
Barely a dozen yards from a police station, the house of Khurshid Ahmed, correspondent for daily Khabrain, in the mountainous town of Gilgit in Pakistan’s far north was attacked with a bomb. No one was injured. While the identity of the attackers has remained a mystery Ahmed, who is also president of Gilgit Press Club, said the incident could be an attempt to browbeat local journalists who collectively decided against giving coverage to hate speech that is routine from organizations that are party to long-running local sectarian tensions.

Nisar Abbas – March 20, 2005
Nisar Abbas, correspondent for daily Jang and independent television channel Geo, was brutally assaulted by military officials in Gilgit in Pakistan’s far north as he tried to cover a military raid to prevent a local non-government organization from staging a protest. Abbas sustained serious injuries, particularly on the upper part of his body, after soldiers attacked him with rifle butts.

Kamran Mumtaz – April 14, 2005
Kamran Mumtaz, executive editor of Mashriq, was badly beaten up in the daily’s office in the southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, by six men belonging to regional political party Jamhoori Watan Party. The attackers, who forced their way in after assaulting the security guard, were angered by what they saw as “insufficient and biased” coverage of their party.

Malik Munawar, Tassaduk Ghouri and Yaseen Jabalpuri – April 15, 2005
Reporters Malik Munawar of daily Asas, Tassaduk Ghouri of daily Janbaz, Yaseen Jabalpuri of independent television channel Apna had to be hospitalized for treatment after being attacked by the police in Karachi as they covered supporters of Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party boarding a train for Lahore to welcome the former prime minister’s husband Asif Zardari who was flying in from abroad. Several other journalists were detained and their equipment seized.

MEDIA PERSONS KIDNAPPED

Qazi Muhammad Rauf – November 6, 2004
Qazi Muhammad Rauf, correspondent for daily Express in the Khyber Agency of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, 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 beaten black and blue. He was rescued next day by his colleagues.

MEDIA PERSONS INTIMIDATED

Syed Mohsin Naqvi, Zafar Abbas and others – May 11, 2004
Syed Mohsin Naqvi of the US cable channel CNN was placed under house arrest by the police to prevent him leaving for the United Arab Emirates to interview Shahbaz Sharif, a Pakistani opposition leader who attempted a dramatic return from forced exile to his hometown Lahore. The security forces used the pretext of a bomb alert to enter his Lahore home without permission. On the same day, about 30 reporters, including BBC correspondent in Islamabad Zafar Abbas, who traveled in the same plane with Sharif, were arrested, questioned, searched or roughly treated by commandos who surrounded the plane after landing. Zafar had his passport and journalistic equipment seized. He and a BBC cameraman were then put into a police van for one hour. Over 20 other journalists from various newspapers were beaten at various police checkpoints near the airport entrance. Sharif himself was expelled to Saudi Arabia two hours after landing.

Allah Noor Wazir, Amir Nawab Khan, Mujeebur Rehman – June 12, 2004
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 as they tried to reach the Shakai region of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistan Army had launched a large-scale operation against Islamist fighters suspected of links with Al-Qaeda and Taliban. Rehman, also a stringer for a foreign TV channel, said the army seized their cameras and videotapes. Dilawar Wazir, a stringer with BBC World Service, was threatened for reporting the event. 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.

Sailab Mehsud, Irfan Siddiqui, Shaukat Khattak and others – 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.

Farhat Abbas and Afaq Shah – November 10, 2004
Journalists Farhat Abbas and Afaq Shah of private radio station FM 103 were arrested by the police from their studio in Lahore for broadcasting a report on a scandal at a government-run medical center. They were detained for several days and beaten up. On November 12, a large police posse again raided the radio station and arrested staff members Ghafoor, Nauman and Arshad. They also seized equipment, forcing suspension of transmission and charged the radio with disruption of peace under the maintenance of Public Order law. Earlier, FM 103 was engaged in legal wrangling with the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority over re-broadcasts of Urdu bulletins produced by BBC.

Waseem Ahmed, Najeeb Ahmad and Azeem Rafi – November 16, 2004
Chief executive Waseem Ahmed, director Najeeb Ahmed and presenter Azeem Rafi of Islamabad-based radio station FM 99 were arrested and thrown into jail by the police in Rawalpindi as they covered a live demonstration of police baton-charge on a group of people in a market. A woman staffer of the radio as well as Najeeb’s children were also thrown into prison and kept in custody overnight. The male crew of the station was manhandled by the police in jail, their mobile phone sets and cash seized.

Amir Mir – November 24, 2004
Two military intelligence officers visited the Lahore home of Amir Mir, senior assistant editor for Herald monthly and asked him to show his copy before submitting articles. Mir is known for his coverage of intelligence agencies and their role in politics. The officials also reminded Mir of how his car was set on fire by unidentified arsonists in December 2003. This was the latest instance of pressure on Mir who has a history of such visits to his home, threatening phone calls and intercepting of his mail.

Police manhandle journalists, seize equipment – April 16, 2005
About 50 editors, reporters and photojournalists accompanying Asif Zardari, the husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, were slapped, punched and bruised by police. This happened in a plane that brought the opposition leader from Dubai after he was whisked away by the authorities as soon as the plane landed in Lahore city, the capital of Punjab province. Equipment including cameras, recorders, tapes and mobile phones were seized and only returned after several hours. Journalists found their tapes and cameras empty of content. Similar treatment was meted out to several journalists in and outside the airport who had gathered to cover the significant political event. Ejaz Maher of BBC and Mazhar Tufail of daily Jang in particular sustained serious injuries after police commandos brutally assaulted them.

MEDIA PERSONS ON TRIAL

Khawar Mehdi Rizvi – June 8, 2004
On June 8, 2004, freelance journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi went on trial in an anti-terrorism court in the southwestern city of Quetta on charges of sedition, conspiracy, and impersonation. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and stem from his work as a fixer for two French journalists, Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau from the newsweekly L’Express, in December 2003, researching a story about Taliban activity along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. After the three returned to Karachi on December 16, 2003, the authorities arrested the French journalists on visa violations. Rizvi was also held but the authorities officially denied holding him until January 24, 2004 when he was formally charged with fabricating video footage of Taliban activity in Pakistan. Rizvi throughout claimed innocence and said he was tortured in custody. He was released on bail on March 29, 2004 and fled the country. On April 23, 2005, the court acquitted Rizvi of all charges against him citing insufficient evidence of guilt.

Raja Khawar Nawaz – August 13, 2004
Raja Khawar Nawaz, the editor of Nawa-i-Hurriyat magazine was arrested in Muzafarabad on orders of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Supreme Court chief justice. He had appeared before the court after being served a contempt notice for publishing “libelous and fictional material with a view to lowering the prestige and harassing the members of the superior judiciary.” Nawaz tendered an unconditional apology saying he had “printed the write-ups at the behest of and on the basis of a file provided to him by an intelligence agency personnel without personally investigating or verifying it.”

Afzal Nadeem – February 5, 2005
Afzal Nadeem, senior reporter of daily Awam, was booked under the Official Secrets Act in Karachi for reporting the contents of a letter by the National Crisis Management Cell. The letter, sent to the top bureaucrat of each of the four provinces of Pakistan, sought their intervention in stopping an ethnic party
from forcible collection of donations for the Asian tsunami victims from businesses and public forums. The Act carries punishment ranging from one year imprisonment to death.

MEDIA OFFICES ATTACKED/RANSACKED

State-run radio station bombed – July 27, 2004
An FM radio station set up by the Pakistan government in South Waziristan Agency of tribal areas bordering Afghanistan was bombed by presumably 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. No staffer of the station, which airs transmissions in the Pashto language, was hurt in the attack.

Islamabad Times offices raided – August 31, 2004
A week before it was to be launched, authorities banned Islamabad Times, raided its printing press, seized newspaper copies, printing plates and other materials. The proprietor of the press, Malik Abdul Aziz, his son and two other workers were also arrested. The action was apparently linked to displeasure at Masood Malik, the editor of the newspaper, who had angered President General Pervez Musharraf in 2001 at a press conference. Malik, then chief reporter of daily Nawa-i-Waqt challenged Musharraf, who had just returned from the Indo-Pak summit in Agra, India, by questioning if it wouldn’t have been easier for a democratically elected head of state to obtain an agreement with India rather than his unelected government. That day Malik found himself sacked from the newspaper’s investigation desk.

Geo TV office attacked – January 30, 2005
A group of 30 persons riding on motorcycles attacked the office of independent television channel Geo in Karachi at 2 in the morning, beat the security staff, ransacked the building, which also houses the same media group’s dailies Jang and The News as well as other publications and set fire to vehicles in the parking lot and fled. An unknown group later claimed responsibility saying they were incensed with the discussion of the taboo subject of incest in the Geo program Uljhan Suljhan, which discusses psychiatric health issues. Intriguingly, a police unit was stationed nearby but did not intervene to prevent the attack.

CENSORSHIP AND GOVERNMENT CONTROL

Five newspapers banned, offices sealed, staff arrested – May 25, 2004
The government of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province banned six newspapers in the city of Karachi on charges of publishing “obscene photographs” and “blackmail.” The owners of the newspapers and staff were arrested including Ashfaq Jafri, Hanif Dwami, Liaquat Ali, Aleem Azad, Nisar, Tariq Ali, Mehboob, Abrar, Danish, Aziz, Ashfaq Jaffery, Iqbal Saif, Ghulam Shah, Ali Angora Abrar and Ghulam Mohammed. Offices of Morning Special, Evening Special, Zamana, Daily Special and Mid Special were sealed.

FM radios barred from airing re-broadcast news – October 21, 2004
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a notice to private FM radio stations to stop re-broadcasting foreign programs. The directive followed a high court restraint on FM 103 in Lahore from re-broadcasting Urdu bulletins produced by BBC under an agreement between the two broadcasters.

Magazine banned, editor arrested – November 4, 2004
Ghulam Shehzad Agha, editor of Kargil International magazine, was arrested from Skardu in the north and charged with backing autonomy for Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the country’s dispute with India. His magazine was banned on September 8, 2004 for allegedly carrying seditious and unpatriotic news.

Newsweek magazine banned – November 22, 2004
The 22 November edition of international news magazine Newsweek was banned in Pakistan for publishing material that “shows the Koran in bad light”. All copies of the journal were ordered seized and burned. The edition carried an article titled “Clash of Civilizations” about murdered Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh and pictures of a woman with Koranic verses inscribed on her body.

Ban on government advertisements – 14 January 2005
A resolution passed by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors condemned the use of “press advice” as a form of “government intervention in the affairs of the press.” The CPNE also expressed concern over the suspension of government advertisements in newspapers that do not abide by the advice. The new round of suspension of advertisements came in an effort to persuade newspapers to tone down their coverage of sectarian violence in Pakistan’s far north an unrelated incident of alleged gang rape involving a female doctor in a sensitive area of Balochistan province, which is suffering from serious law and order problems. Earlier, government advertisements to The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt remained suspended for nine months and the ban was lifted in September 2004. On July 9, 2004, the government suspended advertisements to daily Jinnah. The newspaper claimed the action was in retaliation for its independent editorial policy.

ANTI-MEDIA LEGISLATION

Contempt of court law re-promulgated – July 15, 2004
President General Pervez Musharraf re-promulgated the Contempt of Court Ordinance after it expired on July 15, 2004. It is currently with the National Assembly for enactment as law. This law regulates the exercise of the powers of the judiciary to punish for contempt of court including media reporting deemed adverse and disrespectful. Previously, the Contempt of Court Act, 1976, was in place that had been repealed through this new ordinance. Maximum penalties include six months in jail and/or a fine of up to Rs 100,000 ($1,665).

Penalties for defamation enhanced – August 19, 2004
The National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament, amended the controversial Defamation Ordinance 2002 despite objections from the media and opposition political parties. The penalties for those found guilty of slander or libel were dramatically enhanced from a minimum fine of Rs 50,000 ($835) to Rs 100,000 ($1,665) and/or a prison term of up to five years, up from three months.

Move to toughen electronic media law – March 15, 2005
The government pushed through in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting a set of amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002, which, if approved by both houses of national parliament, will make it easier for the authorities to arrest broadcasters, cancel radio and television licenses, enhance control over broadcast content and raise fines on broadcasters a staggering tenfold, among the litany of proposed changes.