According to a report released on Sunday by the Freedom Network, the country of Pakistan is still struggling with an uptick in crimes against journalists after passing landmark laws two years ago.
In 2021, Pakistan passed groundbreaking legislation to protect journalists around the world. The National Assembly quickly passed the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act 2021 after the Sindh government introduced the Sindh Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners Act 2021.
A press release claims that the report shows that these regulations are not effective in stopping the growing impunity for attacks on the media.
The data contained in the report is deeply concerning, as it points to a dramatic increase in the persecution of journalists at the hands of state actors. Kidnappings, assaults, and judicial proceedings, often based on bogus accusations of sedition, treason, or cybercrime, are all examples of such transgressions.
The report also provides insight into the prevalence of attacks on journalists in areas where laws were passed to protect them.
Between August 2021 and August 2023, eleven journalists were killed while on the job, according to the study. Even though laws have been passed to safeguard journalists, this worrying trend highlights their continued vulnerability.
The research also examines how the rest of the world sees Pakistan’s media freedom. The country moved up from 157th in 2021 to 150th in 2023 on the World Press Freedom Index, although this improvement was overshadowed by the ineffective implementation of regulations meant to safeguard journalists.
Executive Director of Freedom Network Iqbal Khattak voiced grave worry over the lack of statutory implementation, blaming insufficient enforcement of laws on both the federal and provincial governments for the delay of justice for journalists.
“It is very disturbing to see the good work of the two legislatures — the Sindh Assembly and the federal parliament — diluted by not making the laws fully operational to provide protection to journalists,” he added while launching the report.
The problems with our laws and government
The research singles out certain loopholes in both federal and Sindh legislation. It draws attention to the fact that the federal government has failed to create the required safety commission, rendering the law ineffective. Similarly, despite the establishment of a commission in Sindh, it was severely hampered by a lack of resources, limiting its ability to provide adequate safety and justice to injured journalists.
When Imran Khan served as prime minister in 2021, the National Assembly enacted the federal Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act without a single vote being cast against it. Shehbaz Sharif succeeded him as prime minister in 2022, and he served until the end of the parliament’s term in August 2023.
As a result, the federal law has not been operationalized and has not helped any of the 93 journalists in Islamabad who have been killed, attacked, injured, threatened, or harassed in the two years since it was passed. This is because both the Khan and Sharif governments failed to establish a safety commission mandated by the law. The two governments “also failed to enforce the law,” the report added.
In Sindh, conditions were similar. After the Sindh provincial assembly passed and formally notified the Sindh Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Act in June 2021, it took another year, until December 2022, for the law’s proposed Commission for the Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners (CPJMP) to be notified, with prominent jurist Rasheed A. Razvi serving as the organization’s first chair.
The report notes that even though the Commission was established to ensure enforcement of the law, the Sindh government did not provide an office, staff, or formal budget for its operations until August 2023, severely limiting the Commission’s ability to provide protection, relief, and justice for the increasing number of violations against journalists and media entities in Sindh province.
Now, how can journalists be safeguarded?
The report concludes with three immediate recommendations to improve the situation and realize the potential of two laws protecting the safety of journalists. It demands that a safety commission be established immediately under the federal Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, that Sindh’s Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners receive sufficient funding, and that provinces like Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab enact similar safety laws following the 2024 provincial elections.
With the two specialist journalists’ safety legislations now on its statute books, thanks to the efforts of many stakeholders over the course of several years, especially the Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition, “Pakistan has a golden opportunity to become one of the strongest global performers in combating impunity for crimes against journalists,” according to the report.
But these three suggestions must be put into action quickly if the promised outcome is to materialize.
