November 12, 2016

Journalism’s raison d'être under threat in Pakistan

located:	Pakistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

A government fact finding commission in Pakistan has charged a correspondent of the country’s leading newspaper of fabricating a report that was widely seen as a ‘leak’ of a high-level security meeting revealing deep strains between the civil and military leadership.

This move means the journalist could face persecution while the rest of the journalist community feel threatened against attempting to expose the government and other powerful quarters.

Cyril Almeida of the daily Dawn made headlines nationwide last month when he exposed that the civilian government has informed the military leadership of a growing international isolation. It is worth noticing that the military has been calling the shots in major affairs in Pakistan for decades while the civilians made to follow.

In his report titled “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military”, Cyril quoted individuals present in a crucial national security meeting saying that the participants were informed that Pakistan faces diplomatic isolation and that the government’s talking points have been met with indifference in major world capitals.

In this South Asian country, the militant-army nexus is an open secret with a number of extremist outfits operating from here to wage terror in Pakistan itself and the region. Cyril Almeida's name was added to the Exit Control List ─ preventing travel abroad ─ after the report was published by the paper.

In this case, particularly, the revelation about civilian government’s anger about military coming for the rescue of militants nabbed by the civilian government sent shock-waves across Islamabad. The news was immediately

[thrice] rejected by the Prime Minister house and the army pronounced it as “breach of national security.”

In defiance of all these pressure tactics, the Press Council of Pakistan has come for the rescue of working journalists. A group of senior journalists in this group has urged the government not to proceed against the newspaper or its staff. “Not surprisingly, governments and power centres in many parts of the world are tempted to erode what is known as the reporter’s privilege, through both subtle and strong-arm tactics. Journalists here believe in countries with inadequate right to information laws such as Pakistan, sources are doubly important, particularly to uncover situations where public trust has been betrayed. And, if Cyril is persecuted for his profession, sources and potential whistleblowers would shy away, and media practitioners themselves would be wary of reporting on any ‘controversial’ topic.