The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) contains an Impunity Index, which has a select membership of only 12, the number of countries where five or more journalists have been killed for their work, without the killers being punished. The Index excludes those journalists killed in the course of dangerous assignments, such as covering protests which turned violent. It is a matter of concern that Pakistan is on the Index at all, and its presence belies the claims of the Prime Minister that the media is as free as anywhere. If the media was that free, mediamen would not end up being killed. It is no satisfaction that Pakistan is ranked ninth among the 12, considering that the other countries include Somalia, which doesn’t really have a government, Mexico, which faces a major cocaine cartel problem, or Afghanistan, which was a war zone, and where journalists have been getting short shrift at the hands of the new Taliban regime.
In the last 10 years, 81 percent of murders have not had anyone held to account, meaning that there is an even lower chance of bringing anyone to trial or obtaining a conviction. Part of the fault may indeed lie with the justice system, where investigations are botched and trials seemingly last forever. However, at least some of the blame must be shared by the government, which has done its part in reinforcing a negative image of the press, among other things, portraying them as purveyors of ‘fake news’ who have to be reined in.
It does seem as if journalists must take care of each other. Organizations like the CPNE, APNS and the PFUJ must pursue cases more actively than at present, because to wait for the justice system to correct itself and become self-activating is to abandon journalists to be killed. While journalists in the metropolis might be partially protected by their visibility, those practicing the profession in the districts are often vulnerable, and need the national organisations to protect them. Pakistani journalists are facing beatings and kidnappings, but to be killed because someone powerful wants to avoid exposure that way, is not tolerable. The government should not view this as something it can use to burnish its image by going after journalists’ killers, but as a wake-up call to reform the justice system.
