Pakistan’s impunity for crimes against journalists

On Global Impunity Index of Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), Pakistan ranks as the ninth worst country in the world in which journalists are murdered and no one is brought to justice.

More than 70 journalists and media workers have lost their lives since 2001 while pursuing their duties in Pakistan – 47 of whom were deliberately targeted and murdered for practicing their profession. Another 194 journalists were injured in gun attacks while 40 others were detained by law enforcement agencies and tried for different crimes.

The most ironic part of the report is that perpetrators in all these murder cases, but two, were never convicted.

Pakistani journalists are not only targeted by militants, political, religious, ethnic groups, but also by the law enforcement agencies.

One of the much talked about cases of journalists targeted include the case of Salem Shahzad. Four year back, he was found dead in Islamabad after he reported on the infiltration of terrorist groups in the military. The investigation commission’s report on Saleem Shahzad's murder that followed afterwards failed to ensure accountability or even name the perpetrators.  An investigation commission report on the assasination attempt on Hamid Mir last year, one of Pakistan's most renowned journalists, remains pending and the proceedings are shrouded in mystery. 

According to the Balochistan Union of Journalists 41 journalists have been targeted in Balochistan in different incidents since 2008. The province is literally an information black hole with virtually no news reaching out to masses through media.

Bushra

1914 hours

Monday 2 November 2015