HRF/96/04

  15 April  2004

Pakistan: Promises, then, a crackdown

In October 1999, after years of repression and pressure at the hands of Pakistani politicians and businessmen, the Pakistani media held high hopes for reform in the immediate aftermath of General Musharraf's bloodless and unconstitutional coup. General Musharraf propagated a new policy for Pakistan, including freedom of the media, as an example of an alternative political direction and conviction. In his address to the nation following the coup, General Musharraf declared that he was "a firm believer in the freedom of the press" and held a "great regard and respect for the media" which he trusted to play a positive and constructive role. General Musharraf later assured members of the press that "you do not have to worry that this unparalleled freedom will be snatched by my government at any stage".

Although the press did enjoy a brief period of increased freedom, the situation deteriorated in the lead up to the referendum and parliamentary elections in 2002. Since then, there has been a growing trend of intimidation and harassment of the press, with increasing restrictions being placed on media freedom by the Government. In Pakistan today, the repression of press freedom is a severe nationwide problem, affecting national and regional media, as well as local and foreign journalists.

In August 2002, the Government promulgated three new press laws which were billed as necessary reform measures. In reality, these new laws imposed profound restrictions on the Pakistani media and represented a major setback for freedom of the press. The Press Council Ordinance created a government controlled press council with regulatory powers over the press, the Defamation Ordinance increased the penalties for defamation (which now include imprisonment) and placed the burden of proof on journalists charged with defamation, and the Press, Newspapers and News Agencies Registration Ordinance imposed a system of prior authorisation for news media.

Culture of Intimidation

The image of media freedom in Pakistan has been tarnished by increasing reports of attacks on journalists in order to "keep them in line". Threats, violence, and harassment of journalists by the military, religious fanatics and intelligence services have become increasingly common. Since the beginning of 2004, NGOs have already reported the murder of a journalist in broad daylight by a politician in the North West Frontier Province in January, the bombing of the office of the Jang newspaper in Quetta in February and the subsequent torching of the same offices by Shiite demonstrators in March, the ransacking of part of the Press Club in southern Karachi by Shiite demonstrators in February (an incident in which a security guard was also beaten), the kidnapping of a reporter by bandits in Sindh province in March and the arrests of at least four journalists attempting to report on the Pakistani army's offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in South Waziristan in March.

Journalists who publish critical reports regarding the authorities are often the subject of arbitrary arrests. National security, defamation, blasphemy, public order and 'anti-terrorism' laws are often used as the basis of trumped up charges and excessive sentences. 

The Government has failed to fulfil its obligation to provide protection to journalists from fundamentalists and outlawed groups. In September 2003, two journalists were detained by an outlawed fundamentalist group in the Khyber Agency Region of Pakistan's Tribal Areas in September 2003 after reporting on the abduction of two people by that group.  Other journalists from the area have reported harassment from members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In October 2003, Ameer Bux Brohi, a reporter for the largest Sindh daily newspaper, was killed by unidentified gunmen. He was the second journalist to be killed in Sindh in 2003.

In March 2002, Shaheen Sehbai, editor of the English-language newspaper The News, suddenly resigned from his work and fled to the United States. Sehbai's departure followed the publication of a story about the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. It has been reported that Sehbai implied in a letter to colleagues 'that the publisher had charged him with policy violations and professional misconduct to sack him under pressure from the military government.' Sehbai subsequently set up an investigative online news site, the South Asia Tribune, which was blocked by the Pakistani Telecommunications Company in May 2003.

Security forces, such as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), practise an ever-growing influence on newspaper editors in what has been described as giving 'advice'. Further, according to a US Department of State report, in some cases governmental and non-governmental bodies pay for positive coverage within the media sphere. Self-censorship often appears in relation to the reporting on sensitive issues, such as the military, and since 2001, the Ministry of Information has warned the Pakistani media not to criticise either the US or the Pakistan Government about their anti-terror efforts.

The Pakistan Ministry of Information controls and directs the Associated Press of Pakistan, the Government's news agency and official transmitter of international news to local media. The Government controls most of the broadcast media through the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and Pakistan Television. Foreign books and magazines are censored, and in July 2003 the Government imposed a ban on an issue of the US magazine Newsweek due to an article on the Koran.

The Government also exerts power through advertising revenue and public interest campaigns. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a prominent NGO, a large Sindhi language newspaper, the Sindhi Hyderabad, had to cease operations in February 2003 as the Government cut financial ties by reducing the advertisement quota by 50 percent so that staff salaries, telephone bills and expenditures could not be paid. At the end of February 2004, the Government imposed an advertising ban on the newspapers of one of Pakistan's major media groups, which have published reports critical of the Government. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the move as a "scandalous abuse of power driven by a desire to stifle independent media voices".

Double Standards

In December 2003, three journalists were arrested after travelling to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where they were reporting on Taliban groups for the French weekly L'Express. Two of them, Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau, being French nationals, were charged with visa violations for travelling to Quetta without permission. After first being sentenced to six months in prison in Pakistan, intense diplomatic pressure from France led to the reduction of the penalty to a fine. On 13 January 2004, the French journalists returned home. However, their Pakistani colleague Khawar Mehdi Rizvi was secretly detained for more than 40 days. Rizvi is well respected in his field and has worked for the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and Le Monde, among others. A habeas corpus petition was lodged by a lawyer for Rizvi's family; however, Pakistani Government officials repeatedly denied holding Rizvi. The authorities finally admitted detaining Rizvi on 25 January 2004. Rizvi, who has reportedly been tortured whilst in detention, has been charged with "sedition" and "conspiracy" charges before an anti-terrorism court. However, no serious evidence to support the charges has been presented.

All the way to the top

What is particularly disturbing is that, despite his self-professed "belief" in press freedom, General Musharraf himself has, on more than one occasion, made public threats against members of the press. It has been reported that in September 2003, he publicly threatened two senior Pakistani journalists, Shaheen Sehbai and Hussain Haqqani, who were then living in the United States, in front of several hundred expatriates in New York.

It has also been reported that Musharraf made threats against Amir Mir, senior assistant editor of the Herald, at a reception for newspaper editors in November. It is alleged that Musharraf accused the Herald of being "anti-army" and working against the "national interest". Mir's car was set on fire by unidentified persons two days later. Mir claims that he also received a telephone warning that "this is just the beginning".

Time for Reform

The culture of intimidation of the press has resulted in a general decline in investigative journalism in Pakistan. There is hope, however, largely due to the efforts of courageous members of Pakistan's press who are fighting back and continuing to draw attention to the abuses.

As the number of human rights violations perpetrated against journalists and members of the media grows in Pakistan, it is time for the international community to closely monitor the situation, and to call on General Musharraf to deliver on his promises. As stated by Brad Adams, the Executive Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, "[i]t is time for General Musharraf to show the world whether he is a reformer - or no different from other military rulers. How he deals with press freedoms is a big test. As of now he and his government are failing".

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