And then they came for journalists

November 11, 2017 07:14 pm | Updated 07:45 pm IST

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - APRIL 23: Pakistani journalists hold placards and photographs bearing the image of Geo television journalist Hamid Mir during a protest against the attack on Mir by gunmen in Islamabad on April 23, 2014. Pakistan's defence ministry has asked for the country's top-rating television channel to be shut down after it broadcast allegations blaming an intelligence agency for shooting a leading journalist, officials said. (Photo by Muhammad Reza/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - APRIL 23: Pakistani journalists hold placards and photographs bearing the image of Geo television journalist Hamid Mir during a protest against the attack on Mir by gunmen in Islamabad on April 23, 2014. Pakistan's defence ministry has asked for the country's top-rating television channel to be shut down after it broadcast allegations blaming an intelligence agency for shooting a leading journalist, officials said. (Photo by Muhammad Reza/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

First it was bloggers, then human rights and social media activists and now journalists. The space for freedom of expression has been shrinking in Pakistan as critics of the judiciary and the powerful military are being targeted by “invisible” forces. The latest victim was Ahmad Noorani, an investigative reporter, who is known for his views critical of the establishment.

Mr. Noorani, who works as a senior correspondent with The News International (TNI) , was stopped by three bike-borne men in Islamabad, dragged out of his car and beaten with iron rods in late October. Mr. Noorani was rushed to a nearby hospital with head injuries. The case hasn’t reached anywhere. “Threat to journalists hasn’t been clearer; more present and more apparent,” former Editor of TNI Talat Hussain said.

Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor condemned the attack and termed it a malicious attempt to cause unrest. However, there is a pattern in bloggers, activists and journalists being targeted in Pakistan. Authorities often use the provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PECA), passed last year, to crack down on dissent.

Earlier this year, four bloggers were kidnapped and kept for weeks illegally. A campaign was launched in the media against them, alleging that they committed blasphemy. After their return from captivity, all of them fled the country, and in different interviews, accused the military of torture. Last month, the Federal investigation Agency registered a case of anti-terrorism and violation of the PECA against activists Anwar Tanoli and Wajid Rasool. Both were critical of the military and the judiciary. The Interior Minister had to interfere for their release and they haven’t tweeted ever since.

Zeenat Shahzadi, another journalist, was missing for 18 months. When she reappeared last month, the military said she was recovered from the captivity of hostile intelligence agencies on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a story which doesn’t have many takers. She disappeared in 2015, after highlighting the case of missing Indian national Nehal Hamid Ansari. A senior police officer in Lahore said, requesting anonymity, that Ms. Shahzadi was handed over to them by the military. “We have no reason to believe that she was ever taken out of the city,” he added. Ms. Shahzadi has refused to talk to the media since her reappearance.

Dangerous place

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders, a France-based watchdog. The country ranked at 139 out of 180 in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index prepared by the watchdog. At least 117 journalists have been killed in the country in the past 15 years. Despite repeated attacks, there is hardly any resistance from journalist unions. Mazhar Abbas, former secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, believes polarisation among journalists has increased. “Our reaction now is to start with suspicion and then condemn. Unions are not vocal any more.”

Justice Tariq Mehmood, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said “an environment of fear” is gripping Pakistan. “Most have to side with the popular pro-army and pro-judiciary narrative,” he said. The situation is so grave that even the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, had to issue a statement raising concerns over the arrests of journalists and activists, even as his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz remains in power. “Respect freedom of speech. Harassment and disappearances of PML-N social media activists are condemnable,” he said.

MUBASHIR ZAIDI writes for The Hindu and is based in Karachi

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