Journalism is a deadly job in Pashtun belt

By Salman Shahzad

Peshawar: No other profession demands for the sacrifice of one’s life except army whilst equally with that in South Asian context is going the profession of journalism, which demands sacrifice of life. There have been 8 cases of journalists’ murders in Pakistan in the year 2010, and 12 cases in 2008, which is a clear indication that this ill-fated community has been facing myriad challenges and hurdles. If we compare the war-torn country Afghanistan with this land of ill-fated journalists, we can see two incidents of killing of journalists which shows that despite the war and ethnicity, the Afghans have some degree of tolerance.
Until yesterday we were congratulating the advent of new years and hoped that 2011 would bring a new dawn but our hopes were dashed to grounds when in the first month of the new year a journalist—Wali Babar was mowed down by those who have been the enemy of impartial and free voices.
Here it would not be futile, if said that state and non-state actors are responsible alike for obstructing the free flow of information and impartial analysis.
Once a Soviet dessident, Yevgeny Yevtushenko said, “when the truth is replaced by silence the silence is a lie.”
He may have said it for the deadly silence of rulers when they prefer to stay mute especially when there is an hour of crisis, nonetheless if media remains silent then it not only comes under the category of lie but a sin also.
A country without rule can go well than a country without press and media. Being impressed of the force of media one of the kings of England said that Times newspaper is powerful than river Thames.  It was the fear of press in Pakistan that soon after the assassination of Benazir Butto, the President Asif Ali banned, “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power”—a critical book penned by Tariq Ali. As it is beyond one’s capability to check and gag the flow of information altogether then he must have faced it with open heart instead banning it. And this bane could not mitigate and gag his voice rather the ban catapulted its fame many notches higher than it could have. Though later the book was permitted for readership in Pakistan, but it shows the psychology of the Pakistani ruling elite, the state and non-state-actors, that all of them are hell-bent on gagging free and candid voices.
Going through the history of past despotic monarchs of the world, one can conclude without hesitation that they had faced failure in burying the voice of truth there must not be any uncertainty that in present age of information it will be choked. And the people, who think that by killing those who raise the voice of truth, they will be triumphant, are badly mistaken. The voice of truth is like flowing water and flowing water makes its way through any means.
The clamant of Islam must keep in mind that it also says, “confound not truth with falsehood, and whosoever confounds it, he surely, is a sinner.” Thus beyond any doubt it comes quite clear that it is the utmost duty of a journalist to provide the masses with factual information. In a society like Pakistan and many other developing countries it is possible only when one keeps his or her head at palm. In most of the developing countries the threat is more from non-state actors than governments. Still it is the splendid deed of media that it paved way for democracy in South Asia. It is media, which lashes the rulers for their lapses and voice the grievance of afflicted. It is media in Pakistan, which played a vital role in the knocking down of bigheaded Musharaf. It has been performing its duty well and dauntlessly against the military dictators since long. Many dictators tortured journalists but it was under the regime of Zia-ul-Haq, wherein they were lashed and whipped physically. Beside that many journalists were granted perks and parks but his policy of ‘carrot and stick’ could not prove a magic wand for him and the criticism goes abreast with his persecution. Though, he succeeded in corrupting many journalists and his successors also the same path but could not chock the voice of righteous and conscious.
The quandary did not remain only confine to Pakistan but it also affected the entire South Asia.
Afghanistan is enjoying a bit little freedom but one thing which is ominous is that at least the journalists’ community there faces rare threat from state actors while it has to go a circuitous way against the non-state actors.
If we talk about the press freedom in Pakistan it was not achieved in charity rather journalists laved it with their blood and liver. It is, though relatively a bit little free in west and the US, but to claim that there exists absolute freedom of press and media is no less than a myth. In the US one cannot discuss American foreign military bases, which speak volumes of its military adventurism. And similarly one cannot discuss the US and Israel close ties with a candid-pen.
As media is supposed to be fourth pillar of the state, and reaching this point media fought a long way against the elements, which trammeled its path with iron obstacles. With that change there was a great uproar and tumult not only in Pakistan but also across South Asia. If not exaggeration across the globe the situation remained the same.  And 2011 has arrived in a great episode of violence.  The past two years remained really very much fatal for the journalists in Pakistan where at least eight journalists washed their hands of their lives.
During the past few years Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad were plague spots for journalists while the environment for journalists in Tribal belt and KP was relatively normal. These days the order seems inverted and FATA, PATA and NWFP is a black zone for journalists.
Such is the life of journalists in the region; nonetheless the threat is hovering over the heads of hundreds of journalists still they are carrying their duty out amid this deadly scenario. If the journalists of rest of Pakistan are kept aside at least 200 hundred journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA have been facing an incessant series of threats in one way or the other.
Among them is one Rooh-ul-Amin Afridi, whose house in Khyber Agency was detonated by the local militants while looking into the volatile situations there in FATA, he escaped to Peshawar where he has been living for the past four years and could not go back home for such a long time. His brother was kidnapped by Lashkar-e-islam.
A few of them, while giving way to the menaces from state and non-state actors, have preferred to say departure to their journalistic career. And above all is the cruelty of media owners, who have fired more than 400 journalists across Pakistan under the pretext of global financial crisis.
The media owners even did not think for a while how they will feed their innocent children in these sheer times of materialism. Alike the repression of state and non-state-actors, we the journalists also denounce the exploitation of journalists by their tycoon-employers, who are also hell-bent on sapping the rights of these ill-fated journalists.
The writer is a Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa based freelance journalist.