PESHAWAR
\nKhyber Pakhtunkhwa government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced Wednesday that a bill on protection of journalists would be tabled in the provincial assembly to combat impunity for crimes against media and its practitioners in the province.
\n\u201cThe provincial government will table the bill on safety of journalists in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly soon,\u201d Muhammad Ali Saif, advisor to KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on information, told a conference on \u201cSafety of Journalists in Merged Tribal Districts\u201d held by Freedom Network to launch its report on the impact on media in the tribal districts of five years of merger of ex-FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
\nBarrister Saif agreed to work with an Action Committee, set up at the conference, to discuss proposals to include in the bill. The Committee includes presidents of Khyber Union of Journalists, Peshawar Press Club, Tribal Union of Journalists and Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition.
\nThe 92-page report launched on the occasion, authored by Aurangzaib Khan, noted that press freedom situation and safety of journalists in tribal districts did not improve in the last five years since the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas were merged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
\nThe report \u201cNewstribes of Northwest \u2013 Saving Journalism in Pakistan\u2019s Tribal Districts\u201d was released at a meeting of Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition PJSC-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter in Peshawar on Wednesday.
\n\u201cIn 2006, the government wanted journalists to take measures for their safety. In 2014, journalists were losing sleep for want of peace. In 2023, they are back to square one. One or the other party to the conflict is unhappy with media in tribal areas,\u201d the report said.
\nKP Minister for Religious Affairs Sahibzada Muhammad Adnan Qadri told the conference that safety challenges of journalists \u201care the same that residents of tribal districts face which means everyone should work together to resolve the security challenges.\u201d
\n\u201cThe purpose of this report was to understand how political mainstreaming of former tribal areas impacted the tribal media and its practitioners. It addressed two questions: state of freedom of expression and safety of journalists,\u201d Iqbal Khattak, Executive Director of Freedom Network told the meeting.
\nThe report said: \u201cNot much changed on both counts.\u201d It added: \u201cThe merger did not strengthen media. It strengthened tribes, maliks or elders and warlords. The merger did not strengthen rule of law nor the media and its practitioners.\u201d
\nReturn of militancy sparked \u201ccalls for peace and state suppressed freedom of expression not allowing media to report these calls,\u201d the report said in a reference to undeclared official ban on media to report a citizens\u2019 movement for fundamental rights.
\n\u201cSpace for media and journalism has shrunk drastically in the merged districts after resurgence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) ,\u201d the report underlined suggesting that political integration helped media little to free from state and non-state actors\u2019 threatening behaviours.
\nIncreasingly, the report highlighted, journalists \u201cdo not proactively but wait for institutions \u2013 the administration, the ISPR \u2013 to release information to them. We do not take risks ourselves to probe or push for information. By now we are all clear about what our limits are,\u201d interviews with around 50 tribal journalists and the report author\u2019s visits to all tribal districts concluded.
\n\u201cSelf-censorship is rampant. Local stories get censored,\u201d these journalists spoke of limited freedom to report from the most troubled parts of the country particularly in Landikotal.
\nVisibly traumatized, these journalists cope with tribal traditions, coupled with official backing and interference also as tribal Lashkar might expel a journalist and impose fine if any report was seen against the rawayat or tradition. \u201cSame mindset still prevails which was under the FCR\u201d or Frontier Crimes Regulations law, the report warned.
\nBan on media to report freely from merged districts brought technology to use with social networking applications helped citizens from these districts to be heard. However, frequently shutdown of Internet forced journalists to travel back to nearby cities to file their stories.
\nGender in media was grossly disproportionate or merely symbolic. There are women journalists reporting merged districts but they mainly live in bordering districts for safety reasons.
\nA resolution was also passed at the meeting calling on CM Ali Amin Gandapur-led provincial government to urgently table a bill on protection of journalists to combat impunity for crimes against journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
\nKhyber Union of Journalists President Nasir Hussain, Peshawar Press Club President Arshad Aziz, Tribal Union of Journalists President Qazi Fazlullah and PJSC-Khyber chapter President Saiful Islam Saifi also addressed the conference.
\nIt may be noted here that Landikotal press club former journalist was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Landikotal ladt week while the life of the rest of journalists were in denger. Several were warned of dire consequences for their reporting. Soon after the Khalil Jibran murder TTP issued pamphlets warning district Khyber journalists for their reports. Journalists demand their protection from state but their appeal couldn\u2019t heard seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced Wednesday that a bill on protection of journalists would be tabled in the provincial assembly to combat impunity for crimes against media and its practitioners in the province. \u201cThe provincial government will table the bill on safety of journalists in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly soon,\u201d Muhammad Ali […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-414763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n