Amid attacks, Pak media dwindle

The ruling party of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched another blistering attack on the press, linking critical coverage to potential “treason” in the latest broadside against the beleaguered media.

Pakistan routinely ranks among the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers, and reporters have frequently been detained, beaten and even killed for being critical of the government or powerful military, reports AFP.

In recent years the space for dissent has shrunk further, with the government announcing a crackdown on social networks and traditional media houses decrying pressure from authorities that they say has resulted in widespread self-censorship.

The official account of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party fired off over two dozen tweets in English and Urdu late Tuesday, lambasting the press for coverage criticising the government and Khan which it deemed “Anti-State”.

“Freedom of Expression is beauty of Democracy. Expressing Enemy’s Stance is Not Freedom of speech but treason against its people,” read one tweet.

“Media houses & journalists must take care that in their quest for criticism on State, they intentionally or unintentionally do not end up propagating enemy’s stance,” read another, with the hashtag: #JournalismNotAgenda.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently warned of “disturbing dictatorial tendencies” after three Pakistani TV stations were briefly taken off air in what it called “brazen censorship”.

The Committee to Protect Journalist last year warned that the powerful Pakistani military had “quietly, but effectively, set restrictions on reporting”. RSF, in a report in April last year, said the extremist groups and intelligence agencies of Pakistan were already on the list of its predators of press freedom.

The RSF places Pakistan on 139th position on its press freedom list.

The Pakistan government has defended its record, and last week Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a media freedom conference in London that there was “no question of gagging” journalists after being challenged on his country’s record.

Prime Minister Khan, a cricket hero who captained the national team to World Cup victory in 1992, was elected last summer after running a fiery campaign -- vowing to crack down on corruption and build an Islamic welfare state.

But, nearly one year later, his rule has been marred by a crackdown on civil rights activists, the rounding up of opposition leaders, and increased pressure on the press.

On Tuesday, Pakistani journalists held nationwide protests to denounce rampant censorship by the country’s powerful security services, massive layoffs and months-long delays in payments of their wages due to budget cuts.

The rallies, dubbed Day of Protests, were spearheaded by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, which said that journalists, who face the “roughest phase” in the country’s history, have decided to “fight the unprecedented censorship.”

In the last few months, hundreds of journalists have been laid off as media houses came under financial constraints after government advertising was drastically reduced, reported AP.

Ashraf Khan, president of the union of journalists in the port city of Karachi, said authorities are also using the country’s cybercrime law as a tool to crack down on social media freedoms.

Authorities are also asking social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to suspend accounts and take down pages for a variety of reasons, Khan added.

Zafar Abbas, editor of the leading Dawn daily which has faced increasing pressures, said Pakistani journalists have seen severe restrictions in the past, including shutting down of newspapers, imprisonment of journalists and direct censorship.

“But what we are witnessing today in the form of pressures from the state institutions ... news blackouts and self-censorship, is far worse,” Abbas said.

Abbas, it was announced Tuesday, will receive the prestigious Committee to Protect Journalism’s 2019 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award “recognising extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom.”