Despite laws for protection, journalists facing threats in Pakistan: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 30 : Despite making laws on the safety of media professionals, Pakistan saw eleven journalists being killed in the country over the past two years, with the country being ranked 150 among 180 countries in 2023 with regard to press freedom, Dawn News reported on Monday.

It reported that the Pakistan government authorities and state agencies have been accused of being involved in the persecution of journalists, including kidnapping, physical assaults and registration of serious legal cases against them such as sedition, treason and electronic crimes, the report noted.

Two years after Islamabad led the world in legislating on the safety of journalists, the country is still failing to use the legal instruments to combat the rise in crimes against journalists, stated the annual report of the Freedom Network, which documented cases of violence against media professionals.

'The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act' was passed unanimously by the National Assembly when Imran Khan was the prime minister in 2021. After he was ousted though a vote of no-confidence, Shehbaz Sharif became the premier in 2022. However, both the Khan and Sharif governments failed to establish a safety commission mandated by the law leading Islamabad to become the most dangerous city for journalists, revealed the report marking the International Day to End Impunity falling on Nov 2, Dawn News reported.

Since the promulgation of safety laws for journalists, first by the Sindh government and then the federal government in late 2021, Pakistan continues to record an alarming increase in persecution of journalists.

The Sindh Assembly passed the 'Sindh Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners Act 2021' while the NA passed the 'Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act 2021' in a space of few months. Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have not adopted any such law.

According to the report titled 'One Step Forward, Two Steps Back - Pakistan Legislates on Safety of Journalists, But Still Fails to Protect Them', 37.5 per cent of the violations in Pakistan 93 out of a total of 248 cases occurred between August 2021 and August 2023 were recorded in Islamabad.

Sindh was the second worst region with 22.5 per cent of the violations (56 cases), the report said, adding it was ironic that most attacks against journalists happened in this period in regions that legislated for their safety, Dawn News reported.

Pakistan was ranked 157 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Border's World Press Freedom Index in 2021 before the laws were passed. In 2023, the country improved its media ranking to 150 due to the two laws a legal framework that reflected an acknowledgement by the country that it needed to tackle the problem of violence against journalists and combat impunity through legal guarantees.

But that is where the progress stops.

"It is very disturbing to see the good work of the two legislatures the Sindh Assembly and the federal parliament diluted by not making the laws fully operational to provide protection to journalists," Iqbal Khattak, the executive director of Freedom Network, was quoted as saying by Dawn News.

"Both the federal and Sindh governments are responsible for effectively dysfunctionalising their laws and therefore delaying and effectively denying justice to journalists," he added.

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