Hafeezur Rehman, the chief editor of a local weekly newspaper, Nawa-i-Asia, and president of the cable TV network owners association of Kohat, was shot dead in Kalo Khan Banda on Sunday by unidentified gunmen. When Pakistan was termed the most dangerous country in the world for journalists in 2014, it garnered so much attention that one hoped the government would take serious action. Yet journalists continue being targeted without fear of retribution. The modus operandi of the attack on Hafeezur Rehman was the same as the one employed in the killing in Tank earlier this month of journalist Zaman Mehsud, responsibility for which was claimed by the banned TTP. Then, two weeks ago, Mohammed Afzal Mughal, vice president of the Balochistan Union of Journalists, was picked up by a law-enforcement agency; he was released the next afternoon, perhaps in part because his plight was immediately made public nationwide by the media. And last week, the Faisalabad bureau office of Dunya TV was targeted with a hand grenade, leaving three people injured. Sadly, the perpetrators of violence against journalists and media workers enjoy almost absolute impunity in Pakistan. Because of the lack of credible, independent investigations, the murders remain shrouded in mystery, with allegations being made against the usual suspects, namely, militant groups, intelligence agencies and separatists. These allegations are denied outright. Isn’t it then state’s responsibility to find and punish the true perpetrators? Successive governments have failed to ensure the safety of journalists. General Musharraf took the stance of ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ and totally denied it, while his minister termed such incidents ‘accidents’. A similar response was seen when the matter was raised with President Asif Ali Zardari and the ministers of that era. How the present government and security establishment is dealing with the treatment of media workers and journalists is very clear. The situation must change. Access to information is the right of every Pakistani. The killing of Saleem Shahzad remains unresolved, to say nothing of cases where death has not been an outcome.
pk.shafaqna.com
