PAKISTAN: Tribal Journalists Try to Survive Amid Threats

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
 
PESHAWAR, Feb 12 (AMF) – The kidnapping of another journalist in the country’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Feb. 8 has underscored yet again the threats facing journalists in this conflict-ridden region of Pakistan.

   Noor Hassan, who works for the privately owned Royal Television, was abducted while he was on his way to Swat district, north of Peshawar, the capital of NWFP and administrative centre for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA), which shares borders with Afghanistan.

   The past year has been ‘bad news’ for the journalists covering the U.S.-led ‘war on terror’ in the country’s tribal areas as they are often caught between the two warring groups — the government and Taliban militants.

   In 2008, nine journalists were killed in Pakistan, four of them in the conflict areas of the NWFP and the FATA. Of these four killings, three occurred in the restive Swat Valley, while the other one was killed in Bajaur Agency, also north of Peshawar.

   “Virtually, we can’t work. Our job is becoming tougher and tougher,” Habibullah Khan, senior vice president of the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), told the Asia Media Forum in an interview.

    Indeed, the TUJ had to hold its annual election on Jan. 14 at the Peshawar Press Club due to lack of security in the FATA. Of the 190 registered voters in seven tribal units, 168 were able to cast votes while 22 others from violence-wracked Kurram and Waziristan in north-western Pakistan did not turn up due to road blockades.   

   For security reasons too, majority of TUJ members find themselves working from Peshawar. Those based in the various districts file from their respective press clubs.

   The increased physical risks journalists face are exacerbated by the small pay that journalists in the most troubled and dangerous areas get. “Majority of tribal reporters are underpaid or not paid at all,” Khan added.

   A tribal journalist earns about 20 U.S. dollars a month, far out of sync with the dangers they work with. Of the 190 journalists registered with the TUJ as working in the tribal areas, 50 are freelancers, which means they do not always have the protection of full-time media employers.

   Because they are underpaid, half of these journalists also work as government employees and do journalism part-time. But it also means that most are careful not to report news that are against the government. If they write any criticism of the government, they could lose their jobs.

   Looking back, the media environment has entirely changed since the U.S.-led forces began its ‘war on terror’ against the Taliban in the wake of the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks in New York, says Khan, one of the founding members of the TUJ and who works for the wire services and local newspapers.

   The situation has become such that now, tribal journalists visit briefings of militants because they fear they would be punished if they ignored them, explained Khan.

   Prior to the military offensive in the area, TUJ members often reported stories regarding health, education, sanitation, among other issues, and did not face any serious problems in doing these.

   The allied forces toppled the Taliban government at the end of 2001 and proceeded to flush out Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants along the 2,400-kilometre FATA border shared by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

   TUJ president Sher Khan Afridi points out that reporters need protection from the army against attacks from militants. “We demand compensation to the killed journalists. Work is extremely difficult,” he said, adding that journalists should be given insurance and proper salaries as well.

   Mazhar Abbas secretary of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ): “We condemn the government and the militants for targeting journalists. The owners of media groups are also responsible because they don’t pay them appropriately.”

   Of the nine journalists killed in 2008, two were reportedly killed by the armed forces, one died from a suicide bomb attack and another by still unidentified men. None of the killers were apprehended.

   Among those killed was newsman, Abdul Aziz, killed on Aug. 29, 2008, when jet fighters targeted militants’ hideouts in Peuchar Valley, a stronghold of militants in Matta Tehsil in Swat. He was kidnapped days earlier by militants and held in the said hideouts. In the past, militants had also burned his vehicle and accused him of being pro-government.

   Qari Muhammad Shoaib, a correspondent with local paper ‘Azadi’ in Swat, died on Nov 8, 2008 after security forces fired at his vehicle while returning home at night. His killing sparked unrest and condemnation among journalists in Swat and the rest of the country. Until now, no step has been undertaken to bring the perpetrators to justice.

   According to media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, 18 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan since 2002.

   Journalists’ deaths in the past years included that of two tribal journalists, Amir Nawab of the APTN and Allah Noor Wazir of the AVT Khyber networks, whose vehicle was ambushed by gunmen on Feb. 7, 2005.

   TUJ vice president Noor Hakim was killed on Jun. 2, 2005 when his vehicle was hit an improvised device in Bajaur Agency.

   The TUJ’s most important goal for 2009 is to seek the Pakistani government’s protection from attacks from both the military and militants. It wants to arrange a meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and informaton ministry officials to ask for designated places in FATA where they could safely file their stories.

   “We are planning to provide journalists protection so they could work independently,” says Federal Minister of Information Sherry Rehman. “We need a vibrant press in FATA to be able to bring to the fore the anti-state activities of the Taliban/militants.” (END/IPSAP/AMF/AY/LLC/JS/100209)