Roots of Impunity Pakistan’s Endangered Press And the Perilous Web of Militancy, Security, and Politics
By Elizabeth Rubin
A special report of the Committee to Protect Journalists
1 1 1 7
CRISIS IN TURKEY 3
Roots of Impunity Pakistan’s Endangered Press And the Perilous Web o Militancy, Security, and Politics
By Elizabeth Rubin
A special report of the Committee to Protect Journalists Issued May 2013
Deending Journalists Worldwide
1 1 1 7 Founded in 1981, the Committee to Protect Journalists responds to attacks on the press worldwide. CPJ documents hundreds of cases every year and takes action on behalf of journalists and news organizations without regard to political ideology. To maintain its
1 1 1 independence, CPJ accepts no government funding. CPJ is funded entirely by private contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations.
Roots o Impunity Pakistan’s Endangered Press and the Perilous Web o Militancy, Security, and Politics
Editorial Director: Bill Sweeney Senior Editor: Elana Beiser Deputy Editors: Kamal Singh Masuta, Shazdeh Omari Designer: Nancy Novick Copy Editor: Lew Serviss Map: John Emerson
© 2013 Committee to Protect Journalists, New York. All rights reserved. Printed by United Book Press.
CHAIRMAN Jonathan Klein ADVISORY BOARD Sandra Mims Rowe Jane Kramer om Brokaw Mhamed Krichen Gwen Ill VICE CHAIR David Laventhol Steven L. Isenberg Kathleen Carroll Lara Logan David Marash HONORARY CHAIRMAN Rebecca MacKinnon Charles L. Overby erry Anderson Kati Marton Erwin Potts EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michael Massing Dan Rather Joel Simon Geraldine Fabrikant Metz John Seigenthaler Victor Navasky Paul E. Steiger DIRECTORS Andres Oppenheimer Andrew Alexander Clarence Page Franz Allina Norman Pearlstine Christiane Amanpour Ahmed Rashid Dean Baquet Gene Roberts John S. Carroll María eresa Ronderos Rajiv Chandrasekaran Diane Sawyer Sheila Coronel David Schlesinger Josh Friedman Paul C. ash Anne Garrels Jacob Weisberg James C. Goodale Mark Whitaker Cheryl Gould Brian Williams Arianna Hungton Matthew Winkler Charlayne Hunter-Gault
COVER PHOTO: A protester with a poster o the murdered Karachi reporter Wali Khan Babar. AP/MOHAMMAD SAJJAD
TITLE PAGE PHOTO: In Quetta, where several journalists have been killed, a demonstration against anti-press violence. AP/ARSHAD BUTT
2 Committee to Protect Journalists ABOUT THIS REPORT
A security guard outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad. REUTERS/FAISAL MAHMOOD
his report was written by Elizabeth Rubin, an independent journalist who has covered Pakistan and South Asia or numerous publications, including Te New York imes Magazine. She has reported rom conict zones around the world, including Aghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. Te Committee to Protect Journalists commissioned Rubin to conduct this independent investigation into the dangerous conditions acing members o the news media in Pakistan.
Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, wrote the introduction to this report and prepared its recommendations. Te appendix o journalists killed rom 2003 to 2012 is based on the research o CPJ staf over the past decade. Sumit Galhotra, CPJ Steiger ellow, contributed new reporting to the capsule reports o journalists killed. Galhotra also contributed research to several other sections.
Pakistan is the ourth-deadliest nation in the world or the press since 2003, CPJ research shows. Although a number o journalists have died in suicide bombings or other conict-related circumstances in the country, at least 23 have been targeted or murder. CPJ research also shows Pakistan has one o the world’s worst records o impunity in anti-press violence. Not one journalist murder over the past decade has resulted in a conviction.
Tis report examines the targeted killings o reporters Wali Khan Babar and Mukarram Khan Aati, along with the roots o impunity in Pakistan. Te nation’s press, while ree and robust, aces extraordinary danger rom militants, political groups, criminals, intelligence agents, and military and government ocials. Addressing the culture o impunity in anti-press violence is central to the nation’s uture.
An Urdu-language version o this report is available at cpj.org/reports/roots-urdu.pd.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 3 CONTENTS
Pakistan Air Force cadets in Karachi. REUTERS/AKHTAR SOOMRO
INTRODUCTION 6 BY BOB DIETZ
CHAPTER I 8 THE MURDER OF WALI KHAN BABAR Babar was an unusual ace on the air in Karachi: Popular and handsome, he was a Pashtun rom Baluchistan. He was also a rising star at Geo V, which was grooming him to be an anchor. His murder provides an unortunate prism through which to study the state o media, justice, power, and politics in Pakistan.
VERBATIM: THREATS, PROMISES, AND FEARS 17
CHAPTER II 18 A DEATH IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA Ocially, there is no mystery to Mukarram Khan Aati’s death. He is another casualty o the war on terror, executed by the aliban because o his reporting or a U.S. government-backed news outlet. But unocially, many do not believe Aati was killed on orders o the aliban, at least not or the rea sons publicly stated.
FOR VOA REPORTERS, A DIFFICULT BALANCE 25
A DEADLY DECADE 26
4 Committee to Protect Journalists The Pakistani ag at the mausoleum o the country’s ounder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. AFP/ASIF HASSAN
CHAPTER III 28 INTIMIDATION, MANIPULATION, AND RETRIBUTION A couple o years ago, prominent journalists began publicizing the threats they were receiving rom intelligence agencies. It was a risky calculation, but silence, they reasoned, encouraged urther intimidation. Has their tactic worked? For the well-known, it’s ofered some protection. But or journalists who work out o the spotlight, threats still lead to something worse.
‘IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME’ 34
CONCLUSION 35 Te murder o Saleem Shahzad in May 2011 galvanized journalists across Pakistan in a way that ew other events have. For a short time their power was elt. Tey secured a high- level investigation. Tey named intelligence ocers who had threatened Shahzad and other journalists. But two years later, precious little has come o their eforts.
CPJ’S RECOMMENDATIONS 38 Te organization’s recommendations to Pakistani authorities, news media, and the international community.
APPENDIX 40 JOURNALISTS KILLED 2003-2012 Capsule reports on journalist atalities.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 5 INTRODUCTION
MQM supporters with portraits o party leader Alta Hussain. REUTERS/AKHTAR SOOMRO
By Bob Dietz
t least 42 journalists have been killed—23 o will o the intelligence services, the army, and crimi- them murdered—in direct relation to their nal elements in the political parties. A work in Pakistan in the past decade, CPJ n Intelligence services that aggressively pursue a research shows. Not one murder since 2003 political agenda; that pressure, manipulate, and in- has been solved, not a single conviction won. Despite timidate news media; and that, at times, collaborate repeated demands rom Pakistani and international with or enable the aliban and other militants. journalist organizations, not one o these crimes has n A criminal justice system that is weak and lacks inde- even been put to a credible trial. pendence, leaving it vulnerable to political pressure. Tis perect record o impunity has ostered an n Police who are insuciently trained in such unda- increasingly violent climate or journalists. Fatali- mental areas as orensics and security. ties have risen signicantly in the past ve years, and n Government ocials who, in a climate o wide- today, Pakistan consistently ranks among the deadliest spread impunity, eel ree to intimidate journalists. countries in the world or the press. n And news media that, while ree and robust, are Te violence comes in the context o a govern- also manipulated by the intelligence services, the ment’s struggle to deliver basic human rights to all military, and the political parties. citizens. Te independent Human Rights Commission o Pakistan laid it out succinctly when it said in its “It’s rough out there,” Najam Sethi told CPJ. Sethi, annual report in March 2012 that “militancy, grow- longtime editor o Te Friday imes and host o a ing lawlessness, and ethnic, sectarian and political popular Urdu-language political program on Geo V, violence exposed the government’s inability to ensure and Jugnu Mohsin, his wie and ellow journalist, have security and law and order or people in large parts o lived under intense threat or years. “One never knows the country.” whether the aliban is gunning or you or whether the It is in this environment that reporter Elizabeth agencies are gunning or you,” said Sethi, who is based Rubin investigated the targeted killings o two journal- in Lahore. “And sometimes you don’t know because ists—Wali Khan Babar in Karachi and Mukarram Khan one is operating at the behest o the other.” Aati in the tribal areas—along with the underlying cul- Sethi, a strong critic o militant groups, is equally as ture o manipulation, intimidation, and retribution that critical o the government, the military, and the coun- has led to so many other killings. Her reporting ound: try’s intelligence agencies. In the Federally Administered ribal Areas along the border with Aghanistan, where n An array o threatening actors that includes not only Aati was killed, the threatening actors include the militants, criminals, and warlords, but also political, military and intelligence services, militants, weapons military, and intelligence operatives. and drug traders, and various warlord groups that the n A weak civilian government that acquiesces to the government plays against one another. Te nation’s larg-
6 Committee to Protect Journalists The Taliban claimed responsibility or this roadside bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. REUTERS/M. ABDULLAH
est city, Karachi, where Babar was murdered, is a combat has been done beyond the ling o a preliminary police zone o political parties ghting or tur, militant groups report. In 2012, when the United Nations’ educational establishing rear-echelon redoubts, and criminal gangs wing, UNESCO, drated a plan to combat impunity in hungering or prot. At least three journalists have been journalist murders worldwide, Pakistan lobbied uriously, killed in Karachi because o their work in the past decade. i unsuccessully, to have it derailed. A senior Pakistani Te intelligence services eel ree to pursue their ocial told CPJ at the time that it would be “unair to own political agendas; their actions are partly the say outrightly that Pakistan has a high rate o unresolved cause and partly the result o the nationwide ree-or- cases.” Te acts—23 murders, all unsolved—show all o violence. Te military, which has taken power otherwise. Te president’s oce did not respond to CPJ’s three times since the country’s ounding in 1947, request or comment on the ndings o this report. brooks little criticism and never hesitates to threaten Pakistan’s leaders have not met their obligation to journalists who dare to speak out. Government, mili- guarantee the rule o law and undamental human tary, and intelligence ocials are suspected o involve- rights. Te newly elected government owes its citizens a ment in at least seven journalist murders in the past criminal justice system that is independent, its investiga- decade, CPJ research shows. Weak civilian govern- tors and prosecutors suciently supported with staf ments have wielded little control over them. and resources to bring about successul prosecutions. Working in this milieu are news media surpris- Many journalist murders go unprosecuted because o in- ingly ree and robust. An explosion o private cable timidation, intererence, or worse rom political parties, television broadcasters that began under Gen. Pervez the military, and the intelligence services. Tat must end. Musharra has resulted in more than 90 stations today. Given the breakdowns, Pakistani journalists have Print and radio outlets thrive. But journalists also say begun addressing the problems on their own. Larger that media outlets are manipulated by the military and media houses are strengthening training and security. intelligence services, and that news organizations have Some are setting out guidelines or ethical conduct. not met the escalating risks with commensurate secu- Journalists are drawing on a long heritage o proes- rity and training measures. In recent years, the indus- sional solidarity to speak against anti-press harassment. try’s news managers have undertaken several sincere As one o the nation’s strongest democratic institu- attempts to raise the quality and security o Pakistani tions—and one o its most imperiled—the press has both media. Most admit it is still a work in progress. the ability and the urgent need to nd efective solutions. n In May 2011, a CPJ delegation met with President Asi Ali Zardari and several cabinet members. At that Bob Dietz is Asia program coordinator or the Committee meeting, the president pledged to address the coun- to Protect Journalists. He reported rom Pakistan in try’s record o impunity in anti-press violence. In act, 2009 during the government’s military oensive in nothing substantial was undertaken, and the record has Swat, and was part o the CPJ delegation that met with only worsened. In most cases documented by CPJ, little President Zardari in 2011.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 7 CHAPTER I
Journalists decry the murder o Wali Khan Babar. AFP/ASIF HASSAN
The Murder o Wali Khan Babar
n January 13, 2011, Wali Khan Babar, a Shahrukh Khan, aka Mani, was ordered to ollow 28-year-old correspondent or Geo V, was Babar home, but he couldn’t nd the reporter. Mani, driving home ater covering another day a young Muhajir and MQM member, had worked in o gang violence in Karachi. Babar was an his ather’s paan and conectionary shop until he got Ounusual ace on the airwaves: Popular and handsome, involved with the MQM’s Faisal Mota, a community he was a Pashtun rom Zhob in Baluchistan near the organizer and squad leader. Once Mani joined the border with Aghanistan. For Geo, it was a rare boon to MQM he did various jobs—selling cigarettes, bro- have a Pashtun in Karachi, and so the station planned kering, election campaigning. On January 13, he got to send him abroad or training to become an anchor. another call rom Mota, who told him to go back to Pashtuns, represented by the Pashtun nationalist Geo oces where another MQM comrade would give Awami National Party, and Muhajirs, represented by him a car to ollow Babar. the Muttahida Quami Movement, have been en- Mani arrived outside the oces o Geo around Asr, meshed in violent attacks and counterattacks at a level the aternoon prayer. wo MQM guys named Zeeshan not seen since the 1990s, and Babar was passionate and Liaqat were already there and gave him the keys about covering and stopping them. For a time, he was to a silver Suzuki, parked behind Babar’s car. Tey able to mingle easily among the competing orces. He had put a 50-rupee credit on Mani’s mobile and told reported on clashes, extortion, drug dealing, and land him to call when Babar pulled out. Around 8:30 p.m., grabbing. He knew he was in treacherous water, but he Babar got in his car and began his drive home. Mani was optimistic and, as he told one o his colleagues, he called Zeeshan: “He’s leaving.” He then called his boss, thought he could orge a truce between the ANP and Faisal Mota, who kept him on the phone to narrate the MQM. But lately he was nervous. He told his boss that exact route—through the Saddar area, by the lines or the MQM was ater him. He told a Pashtun colleague cricket, past the post oce and the Esso station. And that he thought people were ollowing him home and then suddenly there was Zeeshan. Babar was stuck in watching his movements. “I get phone calls every day trac in Liaquatabad, an exclusively Muhajir neigh- with threats,” said a Geo supervisor, “and unortunately borhood, with Mani behind him. Zeeshan, wearing a we didn’t realize the gravity o why he was saying that.” cap, went in ront o Mani up to Babar’s car, raised a Te day beore, on January 12, 2011, Mohammad black pistol, and red six or seven times through the
8 Committee to Protect Journalists IT SEEMED THE JUDICIAL WHEELS WERE TURNING. EXCEPT THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY, SOMEONE WAS MAKING EVERY EFFORT TO THWART JUSTICE. window. We know all this rom Mani’s videotaped brother o a police chie, Shaq anoli, who was part o conession, which can be ound online. the investigation team rom Liaquatabad. It may just be Mani panicked and ed. He called Faisal Mota. coincidence, but around the same time, Pakistan oda y What’s going on? By the time he got to Faisal Mota’s journalist ariq Habib, who had published details o house several MQM guys were already there—men the Joint Investigation eam report on the Babar kill- with names like Waseem Commando and Shahid ing, was red without explanation, according to his Commando. Zeeshan arrived soon ater and then Mota colleagues at the Karachi Press Club. Habib received walked in. Mota told Mani to relax and say not a word, threats, was chased on the streets o Karachi, and was but Mani let the next day or Lahore, where he stayed nally orced to change his residence, they told me. or two months. Upon his return to Karachi he went to On April 9, two days ater the suspects were arrested Mota’s oce in Gulshan. By now the police were on to in the Babar case, Zulqar Mirza, home minister them, and Mota ordered them to head to Hyderabad o Sindh and senior vice president o the Pakistan where Liaqat, another plotter, was in hiding. It was too People’s Party, announced that he was being orced late. Shortly ater they let Mota’s oce, Mani and our out o his job due to pressure rom MQM leader Alta others saw the police moving in. A reght broke out. Hussain. In the ensuing weeks, Mirza unleashed his Somehow Mota, the ringleader, got away. wrath against the MQM, saying that it was responsible On April 7, 2011, the police held a news conerence or Babar’s murder and the subsequent killings, that announcing the arrest o Mani and our others. welve Western governments were backing the party, and days later, stories began appearing in Pakistan oday that Hussain had called President Asi Ali Zardari six with details o the murder culled rom the suspects’ times to have him removed. Te ravings o an embit- statements to a Joint Investigation eam. According to tered politician? Te truth? A political agenda? “Well, the team’s report, Mota had apparently received the as- once you start speaking the truth there is no stop- sassination order around January 1 rom Agha Murtaza, ping, and Zulqar realized late that he was damaging a South Arica-based MQM operative who investiga- the People’s Party,” a close riend and media mogul in tors said has controlled several hit cells or years. Mota Karachi said in explaining why the once voluble Mirza had convened a meeting at his house on January 7 and went completely silent by 2012. Others suggest it was assigned diferent MQM members to monitor Babar at because his son was elected to Parliament. various locations, including the reporter’s residence and But the larger questions remain: Did the MQM really go a Peshawari ice cream shop near the reporter’s house. to such lengths to staunch the investigation? I so, why? And so it seemed or a moment that in this city where more than 100 people are targeted or murder abar’s murder provides an unortunate prism every month, many o them tortured and mutilated, through which to study the state o the news that the judicial wheels were turning, investigations media and the justice system, the nature o and arrests happening. power and politics, and the oten toxic efect Except that simultaneously, someone was making Bo Western policy on Pakistanis. every efort to thwart justice. A ew weeks ater Babar History and demographics are never ar rom what was murdered, one by one, a police inormant, two po- causes murder in Karachi. Te MQM was ounded in 1984 lice constables, and the brother o an investigating o- by Hussain, a passionate student activist who championed cer were ound murdered. All o them were connected the rights o Muhajirs—the Urdu-speaking migrants who to the Babar investigation. Te account in the Express let India during partition or the Muslim homeland—and ribune was chilling: Te rst victim was a police went on to declare them a separate entity within Paki- inormant who was ound dead in a sack with a note stan. He managed to build up one o the most powerul in his pocket. Te message said that head constable political-militant parties in the country, a party that was Arshad Kundi would be “next.” Kundi was the inor- meant to be classless, o the people, and anti-eudal. mant’s handler. Te second victim was actually police In a way it was. Te Muhajirs have higher education constable Asi Raq, killed in a drive-by shooting by levels and lower birth rates, but they also have no land two men on a motorcycle. He was on the scene when to all back on. Te Sindhis have Sindh. Te Pashtuns Babar was murdered and had identied the plotters’ have Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Te Punjabis have Punjab. vehicle. Te third to die was indeed Kundi, also shot in Te Baluch have Baluchistan. Te Muhajirs in Sindh a drive-by motorcycle attack. Te ourth was the young became urbanites with a siege mentality. Over the
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 9 ALTAF HUSSAIN RULES HIS PARTY FROM EXILE IN LONDON AND HIS ABSENCE SEEMS ONLY TO ENHANCE HIS STATUS.
past three decades they have ought the Sindhis, the o controlling the media. Te cable operators are now Pashtuns, the PPP, and the ANP; they have populated under its inuence. “I we say at 8 p.m. we will air an every institution in Karachi and, o course, have ties to interview with Aaq,” said a Geo V editor, reerring the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, and to Aaq Ahmed, the leader o a splinter Muhajir group the Pakistani Army. Teir drive is about survival and that calls itsel the real MQM, “the cable will be shut ownership o Karachi, the nancial capital o Pakistan. and will come back at 8:55.” In the 1980s, Gen. Zia ul-Haq encouraged and bol- oday Alta Hussain rules his party rom exile in stered the MQM to damage the PPP. Ater all, he had London and his absence seems only to enhance his seized power in a military coup that overthrew the PPP status. Many told me that the Muhajir elite may hate and he had executed the PPP’s hero, Prime Minister the MQM but they will support it. Why? “Tey deend Zulkar Ali Bhutto. ur wars exploded all over the city minorities. Tey deend women. Tey are ecient. and by the 1990s the violence was so extreme that the Tings never happen with the PPP. Tey are seen as streets o Karachi turned into dumping grounds or the lazy and unconcerned, eudals,” said a Karachi jour- mutilated dead. Te MQM brutalized not only rival nalist and lmmaker who has written reports on the party militants but also anyone who criticized the party, Pakistani media. And then he added, “At least with the including journalists. Benazir Bhutto tried to stop the MQM you can talk to them, even i they’ll kill you.” violence with more brutality. Naseerullah Babar, her inamous home minister, raised an anti-terror orce that ou must go see Nine Zero, I’m told. Tat is broke into the MQM’s intelligence network and its cells the name o the MQM’s headquarters, and it’s and then committed hundreds o extrajudicial killings. a measure o Hussain’s cult-like stature. Nine In 1999, when Gen. Pervez Musharra took over in a Zero were the last two numbers o his home military coup, he needed the MQM to build a coali- Ytelephone when he still lived in Karachi. Nine Zero is tion. So he resurrected it, brought it into the govern- in Azizabad, a middle-class neighborhood, though as ment, and watched it restore an even more efective you approach and pass through the security barricades and brutal militant wing. Once reconstituted, the you have the eeling you’re entering warlord territory. MQM sought revenge. Just about every police station Te day I arrived a red carpet was being laid rom a head o oce who had been involved in the 1990s dais down an aisle between dozens o careully aligned crackdown was killed, oten in daylight, oten by snip- chairs. Te British high commissioner was coming or ers. Fity-two have been murdered to date, with one a ceremony. I was met by an escort w ith a handheld ra- killed shortly beore my visit in April 2012. dio, and my driver was sent around the corner to wait. “Tey don’t orget these things,” said a senior newspa- Hussain’s poster is there saluting the room. Every- per editor who spoke on condition o anonymity. “We thing is neat, organized, and swit. Te spokesman vet every word, ever y sentence written about the MQM,” I’m meeting is Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari, the provincial he added. “I am responsible or 150 journalists working minister or youth afairs in Sindh. He is impeccably here. I have to be careul i a byline is given on a story. dressed: tan suit, purple oral tie, hair attened and I have to look at the mood o the reporter because he swiped down on the sides. But the most remarkable aces the wrath. Te MQM is the most organized mili- thing about him is that he speaks in paragraphs. Non- tant group in this country.” Tat is a powerul statement stop. I tell him that everyone says the MQM murdered in a place that is home to Lashkar-e-aiba, Lashkar-e- Wali Khan Babar. Te rst thing he lets me know is Jhangvi, ehrik-e-aliban, and all the rest o the militant that he has high-level connections with the West, that groups. “At least i the aliban threaten you, you can ask he was in a meeting with a Western oundation when or help rom the authorities,” the editor said, because he heard about Babar’s murder, and that he immedi- the ISI will act as go-between. “With these guys? No.” ately went to the hospital. While many loathe the party, they also respect it. What ollows is a careully stitched-together deense. Te MQM operates as a well-oiled machine unlike any It begins with ormer Home Minister Mirza, the man other political party in the country, more like Hamas who pointed the nger at MQM. “He was very riendly with organizational cells and high-tech eciency. It’s and still is riendly with Awami National Party’s notori- built parks and overpasses to manage trac. Karachi ous leaders in Karachi. He would say, ‘aliban are run- unctions at a relatively high level given its population ning a parallel economy, extortion, robbery, kidnapping o 18 million. Te party has also developed a system or ransom, arms money, drug money.’ Tese are the
10 Committee to Protect Journalists THE MQM HAS EFFECTIVELY COURTED THE WEST, AN EDITOR SAYS, SELLING THE IDEA THAT IT IS THE LAST SECULAR STAND AGAINST EXTREMISM. same businesses which the ANP leadership indulged or that the witnesses who accused the MQM have into. Tey are partners in crime,” Subzwari says, con- been murdered. Subzwari had his eye on his watch. ating the aliban with the ANP (a secular Pashtun Te British high commissioner was on his way. party) and by implication the Pashtuns. Te MQM has brilliantly and efectively courted the “One has to connect the dots. Tere is an ANP lead- West. “Tey have managed to sell the idea to Western ership who is notorious, who has beneted economi- embassies that they are the last secular stand against cally, commercially under the garb o politics. Tere extremism,” a prominent newspaper editor said. “At was a home minister [Mirza] who is a xenophobe in the worst times, when major crackdowns were hap- his remarks against the Urdu-speaking community, pening, the militants got visas to Britain and the U.S.” when he said, at the house o the ANP chie, that the “Westerners don’t want to discuss the ANP-MQM Urdu speakers, the immigrants who came rom India tur war,” the editor went on to say. “Te Pashtuns have to Pakistan, came here starved and naked. Tey had come to Karachi. Te shanty towns multiplied and nothing with them. And this country has given it all to that’s where the tur wars have accelerated. aliban them. Tat was a xenophobic remark. Tat was a racist have ound reuge in those ghettoes and it’s impossible remark. It showed his inner bias towards us. Since the or police to go in there. Te Americans want violent MQM are 85 percent coming rom Urdu-speaking Islam to be taken out by violent secularists and i hu- background, we took it very seriously.” man rights are violated, so what.” In the next breath, Subzwari brings up the extraju- Ahmed Rashid, author o aliban and Descent Into dicial killings o MQM in the 1990s. Ten there’s the Chaos, and a CPJ board member, said “there’s some problem o an MQM motive. “MQM wants to eliminate kind o treaty between the MQM and the British Pashtuns. Oh really? Now there are hundreds o Pash- government. Pakistanis are amazed and upset at the tun journalists operating in Karachi. For an educated way the MQM and its leaders are tolerated in Britain Pashtun, MQM is the only hope and largest representa- when they’ve been involved in so much o the killing tive in Karachi. … We are the only liberal party in Paki- in Karachi over the years.” Muhammad Khan Buriro, stan. Te others represent ethnicity or amily politics.” the original prosecutor in the Babar case, put it this So the MQM had no motive, he says. “Wali Khan Babar way: “Canada labeled them a terrorist organization. I a wasn’t even covering a political beat; his was the civic commonwealth country calls them a terrorist organiza- beat and culture,” Subzwari claims, although that wasn’t tion, why does Britain difer? Because the MQM prom- true. He quickly adds, “On that ateul day, yes, he was ised to secure the British inrastructure in Pakistan. In used as a crime reporter where the ANP party and any riots the British organizations, whether BP or oth- PPP were ghting over extortion money.” Actually, the ers, will not be afected.” Even i this is an exaggerated MQM were heavily involved in that tur war, too. claim, it is a widely held perception in Pakistan. Subzwari was careul to end our meeting with a Te British government does little to dispel the reminder to me o the MQM’s liberal values. “MQM is notion that it condones the MQM’s behavior. When I the only party to raise concerns about the murders o mentioned that Pakistanis believe the British have a sort Ahmadis in Lahore. MQM is the only party which said o pact with the MQM, that they have given protection alibanization is going on in Karachi. I asked or re- to men accused o running a militia in Karachi, embassy patriation and a check on mass migration o Pashtuns spokesman Jonathan Williams said the British engage rom Swat and what happened? Osama bin Laden’s with the MQM because it is a democratically elected widow was in Karachi. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was party. As ar as particular cases, such as MQM leader here. How many Pashtun extremists are here?” What is Hussain’s receiving asylum or an extended visa in Eng- revealed in Subzwari’s speech is the psychology behind land, Williams said, “We can’t comment on individual the MQM’s philosophy; party leaders harbor an under- cases o asylum or visas in particular.” He apologized or lying belie that unless they are the toughest guys on what he called the limited nature o his reply. the block, they will be wiped out by demographics i not tur wars. Tey have positioned themselves as the oday the MQM is on the demographic deen- deenders o women and minorities, and as a bulwark sive, and that is in part why the last ew years against jihadis. It was a dazzling, speedy perormance. have been lled with violence. According to a Tere was truth here and there. But he never really ad- 1998 government census, Muhajirs made up dressed the act that the suspects belong to the MQM 48 percent o the population o Karachi while Pashtuns
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 11 Syed, the provincial head o the ANP, became senator and arrived back in Karachi, he expected Geo V to give him ull-time coverage. Te ANP, ater all, was announcing an alliance with MQM-Haqiqi. But there was a cricket nal between Bangladesh and Pakistan, and Geo went with the program that would bring in more viewers: cricket. Te next day, threats rained on Geo V. Te ANP cut the station’s cables, and burned trucks carrying the newspapers o its parent company, the Jang Group. Geo called ANP leaders, who came to the station’s oces with a message. “Tey told us, ‘We know your children go to school. Everyone goes to and rom neighborhoods, and no one wants to become a Rehman Malik, the ormer interior minister, speaks to reporters. Wali Khan Babar. But in this city, these things happen.’ REUTERS/ATHAR HUSSAIN It was a direct threat,” recalled one journalist. ANP o- cials did not respond to requests or comment. constituted about 11 percent. Since the earthquake in Tat’s why everyone in Karachi will tell you, there 2005 and the continuing Pakistani army operations in is a method to the violence. It’s not random. I you kill the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, your rivals in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, they Pashtuns have migrated in huge numbers to Karachi leave, you win the elections, and you reap more extor- and shited the balance. Estimates say the Pashtuns tion money. And this, one managing editor speculated, now make up more than 20 percent o the population. may have been what killed Wali Khan Babar. “My own Te hundreds o killings recorded each year in Kara- eeling is that the MQM was thinking that i a Pashtun chi are not random. Te ANP was ounded in 1986 on becomes so popular as a journalist in Karachi, it gives the nonviolent principles o Abdul Ghafar Khan, the a ace and voice to the Pashtuns in Karachi, an equal Pashtun leader who lived rom 1890 to 1988 and led a representation.” Another prominent journalist put it: movement against the British and then the Pakistani “Te newsrooms are heavily pro-MQM, and he was government. But now ANP-Karachi is adopting MQM one o the ew who clearly belonged to an emerging tactics and has created a militant wing. It has made ethnic group. Tat could be enough.” alliances with a splinter MQM action—the MQM Pakistan’s leaders could stop the violence i they Haqiqi, or real MQM—and with the People’s Aman chose, a Karachi editor said, but political calculations Committee, a Baluch organization. Te actionaliza- have nearly always trumped their obligation to bring tion, splinter groups, and temporary alliances are peace to streets. Te ANP, the PPP, and the MQM mind-boggling and have turned parts o Karachi into were coalition partners under the outgoing govern- bloody ganglands. According to the independent Hu- ment. So, the editor said, “i police arrested the MQM, man Rights Commission o Pakistan, 972 people were the other Islamabad”—meaning Zardari’s men— victims o targeted killings in just the rst hal o 2012. “would call and say, ‘Release them.’” “Te local leaders o ANP promoted more violent Te government has not only been beholden to and maa-riendly leaders, less political,” said a news coalition partners, it has counted on them to carry out manager. “We will see more violence in Karachi and its dirty tricks. In January 2012, Zardari’s government more pressure will come on the media.” Recently, he looked as i it might collapse over Memogate. Husain said, he was shouting in the newsroom because his Haqqani, the country’s ambassador to the United journalists were not wearing bullet-resistant jack- States, had sent a memorandum to Adm. Michael ets. Reporters going home rom riots in Lyari were Mullen, chairman o the U.S. Joint Chies o Staf, stopped by MQM on one side and ANP on the other. asking or help to oust the Pakistani Chie o Army “Tis is serious. I word goes down to workers that Ashaq Parvez Kayani and the ISI director general journalists can be targeted, anyone can shoot.” at the time, Ahmad Shuja Pasha. Te army assumed Te ANP, like the MQM, has resorted to cable- Zardari was behind it. cutting as well. Sometimes the cable wars look like Te Jang Group, including Geo and Te News, was kids ghting over a toy in a playground. When Shahi eviscerating Zardari. Mohammad Malick, ormer editor
12 Committee to Protect Journalists SAYS ONE JOURNALIST: ‘NO ONE IS BIG ENOUGH TO NOT BE KNOCKED OFF. UNTIL SOMEONE IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE, IT WON’T STOP. ’
o Te News and a well-known V personality, told me take a stand against individuals because we have no that a sitting minister whom he would not name ofered institutional support. No one is big enough to not be him 30 million rupees (about US$300,000) to stop bash- knocked of. Until someone is held accountable or ing the government. “Ten they started threatening me, killing a journalist, it won’t stop.” telling me I was driving very ast and when you drive Wali Khan Babar’s murder provoked outrage at the ast accidents happen. I started seeing white Corollas Karachi Press Club. Journalists or a time banded to- in my neighborhood,” he said, reerring to the signature gether, demanding government action. But once a case intelligence agency-issued cars. “I had an intelligence goes to court, the amily is usually the one let to pursue riend put my phone on surveillance. … A senator close it. As the journalist Najam Sethi explained, police have to the president started getting riendly with me, invit- no orensic expertise and are under no internal pressure ing me to places outside the city. I said it doesn’t make to pursue such cases. “I Zardari hadn’t pursued Benazir sense—the road is not sae.” His intelligence source re- Bhutto’s case with the ull orce o a ederal investigation layed that there were discussions to “x” Malick, which agency and i Musharra hadn’t been named as the ac- would mean killing him. “In the meantime, civilian cused, it would not have made it to the court stage,” he intelligence were making themselves visible chasing my said. o date, the journalists union has not taken it upon car, my wie’s car. My kids were studying in Lahore, and itsel to be the plaintif in court on behal o a ellow there was suspicious stuf going on. Friendly civilians in journalist. Babar’s brother is still pursuing the case in government told me, ‘Get out and get out now.’” court and has testied beore the judge. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, chie executive o the Jang I asked the journalists at the Karachi Press Club Group, arranged to have Malick own to Dubai. “But it’s about the Babar investigation. Tey smiled and shited a unny government,” said Malick, recalling a conversa- in their chairs. “Everyone points a nger at the MQM, tion with the ormer interior minister, Rehman Malik. “He but the prosecutors and judges are also under threat,” called and said, ‘I’m sending our rontier constables to you.’ said one. “en lawyers were killed in the last two And I said, ‘Just call of the people you launched on me.’” months ollowing sectarian killings. And actually the Te traditional harassment o journalists by govern- judge and prosecutor are under threat, and the previ- ment institutions has evolved into something more per- ous prosecutors ed to the U.S.” sonal, Malick said. “What’s happening is the line between I eventually tracked down those two prosecutors in the state and individuals has been smashed. Only on the exas, where they were keeping such a low prole that army side is it institutional harassment—MI [Military they barely had access to the Internet. Tey ed Karachi Intelligence] or ISI institutional reaction. On the civilian in December 2011 and ew to Houston, where they had side, it’s state unctionaries using state resources and riends. en days ater their arrival, a Pakistani attorney their clout to threaten you. It’s like a maa state. Your who worked or the “agencies” turned up in Houston only recourse is court, and courts are deant. Te media inquiring about them. Te prosecutors panicked, con- is way more powerul.” And, thereore, more dangerous. vinced the lawyer was ater them, and called a distant riend in a small town. “We said, ‘Please, or the sake o ven beore the May 2011 murder o Asia God, take us in. We can’t trust anyone,’ ” Muhammad imes Online reporter Saleem Shahzad—a Khan Buriro, one o the prosecutors, told me. landmark killing widely believed to be the Te prosecutors had worked very closely with the work o ISI agents—it was apparent that press in Karachi. Tis was, ater all, the new civilian- Einvestigative journalism in Pakistan had become a led Pakistan and there was aith in the idea o trans- game o Russian roulette. Journalists are squeezed on parency. Teir experience in Karachi explains much o every side, threatened by the aliban, Lashkar-e-aiba, how justice works in Pakistan, and what must be done Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the ISI, the MQM, Zardari loyal- to chip away at impunity. Here is their story. ists, and a host o other state and non-state militants. Born and raised in Sindh in the 1980s, Buriro and Yet in the decade since Musharra released the state’s ellow prosecutor Mobashir Mirza joined the PPP stu- grip on broadcast media, journalism in Pakistan has dent wing at university during the turbulent anti-Zia never been more vibrant. oday there are some 90 days and never let the party. In 2007, under Mush- V stations and more than 100 radio stations. “Te arra, they traveled with ousted Chie Justice Itikhar days when papers were scared o taking on the army Muhammad Chaudhry as the lawyers’ movement to as an institution are gone,” said Malick. “But we can’t restore him swept across the country. When the PPP
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 13 THE PROSECUTORS WORKED IN PITIFUL OFFICES WITH NO COMPUTERS, NO PHONES, NOT EVEN LIGHT BULBS, AND CERTAINLY NO PROTECTION.
won elections in the wake o Benazir Bhutto’s assas- High Court to the anti-terrorism court, and the sination, the two were appointed prosecutors in the prosecutor general assigned it to Buriro and Mirza. By anti-terrorism court in Karachi. then the Karachi press corps had taken to the streets Immediately they aced some o the toughest cases, to demand justice because Shah was the brother o a prosecuting Islamic terrorists who taunted them in colleague, Samaa V crime reporter Syed Salik Shah. court: “Don’t you care about your lie?” “You want What’s more, the man who caught the episode on to see your amilies dead?” Tey pleaded with the video was also a journalist, Abdul Salam Soomro, a government or more protection. Tey worked in piti- cameraman or Awaz elevision. He was now under ul oces with no copy machines, no computers, no threat and being pressured to pronounce his video a phones, not even light bulbs, and certainly no protec- ake. Forced to leave Awaz, he went into hiding, mov- tion. In 2010 they brought ime magazine to their ing rom one house to the next. rundown oces and explained that the government At that moment, Imtiaz Faran, the president o the Ka- was obviously more interested in ghting terrorism rachi Press Club, invited the two prosecutors to discuss through military means—and oten through extrajudi- the case. “Te journalists were convinced they’d never cial killings—than through the courts. get justice rom the court, that the prosecutors could Nevertheless, they managed to prosecute many never stand against the version o events the government cases and, perhaps as important, to cultivate a trans- was presenting,” Buriro recalled. “Tey told us i we did parent relationship with the Karachi press corps. “We this in the courts we would ace dire consequences.” invited all the journalists to the anti-terrorism court Here is Buriro’s version o what happened: “Syed along with their cameras. Beore us, journalists were Salik Shah was working as a crime reporter or Samaa prohibited, but we were political activists or the res- V, exposing illegal activities o the police and Rangers. toration o democracy as well as the judiciary,” Buriro All these parks have a certain area where you park your told me when I met them in New York. car.” As Karachiites will tell you, the car parks are di- Te prosecutors were put to the test in 2011 with the vided among various extortionists—including Rangers highly publicized murder trial o six members o the and political parties—who make money charging ees. Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary security orce overseen “Salik was trying to investigate and report that. His by the Interior Ministry. It was, perhaps, the prosecu- brother, Syed Sararaz Shah, happened to go to the park tors’ most successul case, but it was one that had severe in the evening when an agent o the Rangers was col- consequences or their uture. On June 8, 2011, just lecting these illegal parking ees. When Shah interered a month ater the U.S. raid in Abbottabad that killed with the agent—asking him, why are you taking illegal Osama bin Laden, six Rangers in Karachi were captured ees?—a dispute erupted and the agent called over the on video shooting Syed Sararaz Shah, an unarmed civil- Rangers.” In Shah’s pocket, they ound the business card ian, at close range as he pleaded or his lie in a public o his journalist brother, the prosecutor said. park named ater Benazir Bhutto in the Cliton neigh- Te Rangers shot Shah without warning, Buriro borhood. Te video shows a civilian dragging Shah in said, and to cover their tracks led what is known as ront o the Rangers who then shoot him. It shows them a First Inormation Report. Te report stated that the all standing around as Shah begs or help, bleeding into Rangers encountered Shah “committing dacoity”— unconsciousness. Shah later died o his wounds. stealing—“and possessing illicit arms without any Te video was broadcast on Pakistani television license or authority.” stations and went viral, causing an outcry through- A Joint Investigation eam, composed o civilian and out Pakistan. Chie Justice Chaudhry said he couldn’t military intelligence bodies, concluded in its report sleep. He called the director general o the Rangers that the Rangers were innocent, that Shah was a thie, and the inspector general o police and removed them and that the case should be reerred back to the regular rom their posts. “Tey were reluctant to register the courts. “Te investigating ocer o the case pressured case against the Rangers,” Buriro said. Interior Minis- me in the presence o journalists to submit the same in ter Malik, whose ministry oversaw the Rangers, issued court, but I vehemently opposed the application in open a quick statement deending the men and saying that court and it was dismissed,” Buriro said. Te director in- the young Shah had been armed with a pistol and was spector general, accompanied by an entourage o senior caught trying to rob someone. police ocials, soon arrived at the prosecutor’s oce to Te case nevertheless was transerred rom the press the demand. “Why don’t you submit this report
14 Committee to Protect Journalists POLICE OFFICERS ARE AFRAID. THOSE WHO WANT TO DO THEIR JOBS ARE THWARTED OR, AS IN THE BABAR CASE, KILLED.
to the court?’ Buriro recalled the ocial as shouting. “I the United States with the permission o the Pakistani replied: ‘I will never submit this report because I have government. As prosecutors in the anti-terrorism to ollow the law. I am not your subordinate. Tis report court, they’d been selected by the U.S. Consulate in has been made to save the Rangers in this case.’” Te Karachi to attend a program convened by the Deense director inspector general “then threatened the court Institute o International Legal Studies at the Newport, reporters rom Dunya V and Dawn. And he told me, R.I., naval station. Te course ell under the rubric o ‘You will no longer be in your position. You are going the Kerry-Lugar Act’s training and capacity-building; against the government and the agencies so be careul or the Pakistanis sent military and intelligence ocers as you will ace dire consequences in uture.’” well. Even in the United States, Buriro said, he came Buriro decided just to do his job. He examined under pressure rom Pakistani military ocers not to 20 witnesses including Soomro, who had lmed the give a brieng on the Rangers case because it would murder. Buriro produced the video in open court. “cause deamation and seriously damage the reputation He cross-examined the deendants’ witness, an ISI o Pakistan.” He went ahead with the brieng anyway. colonel. Te prosecutors withstood anonymous phone Much o the physical and psychological intimidation threats; they turned down bribes to let the case return o journalists and judicial ocials is precipitated by to the regular courts, where it would ade away. Te the perception that they are either working with the security apparatus was especially urious that uni- United States against Pakistan’s interests or exposing ormed men were being tried in the anti-terrorism the ISI-jihadi networks. Te experience o Buriro and court. “During the process o the case I was threatened Mirza was no exception. On the prosecutors’ return by the naval agencies. I was threatened by the ISI,” to Karachi, the agencies began hounding them. “In the Buriro said. Te prosecutors were excoriated or not Karachi bar association we were interrogated by the damaging evidence in the case as instructed. ISI ocers many times: ‘Why did we go to America Te year 2011 was a bad one or military ocials. or training? What type o training? Why did we give Tey’d taken a blow not only rom the United States a brieng on the Rangers case in America? Why were but also rom the Pakistani public, their prowess put in you invited? All others were uniormed persons rom question by a oreign army’s ability to invade unde- other countries,’” Buriro said. tected and kill Osama bin Laden. It was too much in Buriro and Mirza were trouble or the army and the the wake o Abbottabad to have uniormed ocers on intelligence. Tey understood the relationship between trial beore civilian prosecutors aliated with the PPP. the jihadis and the agencies, and they knew how unin- It was a matter o ghairat —honor. terested the establishment was in prosecuting terrorists. Despite the intimidation, the ISI threats, and Interior “Te agencies are not interested in convictions o Minister Malik’s declarations o the Rangers’ innocence, extremist guys,” Buriro said. the prosecutors won the case. Te judge sentenced one Every week, the prosecutors would get a visit rom ISI Ranger to death, and the others, including the civilian and military intelligence ocers to discuss the terrorism who had dragged Shah beore the Rangers, to lie in cases, to nd out how many were being tried, how many prison. Tat’s when the government and the agencies pending. “And always they’d say, ‘Why are you going ater ratcheted up the pressure on Buriro and Mirza. good Muslims?’ or ‘What is the case against [Lashkar-e- “Te army and agency believe any discussion o Janghvi leader] Akram Lahori? He is working or Islam. anti-terrorism should be with them, not the civilian Why are you working against him?’ We replied that the government,” Ayesha Haroon, ormer editor o Te government gave us the case. Tey should withdraw it.” News, said in an interview beore her death in 2013. “It’s the strength o civilian government that we had he MQM behaves with a little more subtlety public prosecutors who with a ree media could take but not much. As soon as Buriro and Mirza cases like the Rangers and support them to go orward. returned to Karachi, they began work on the But then we have the pushback that comes rom the Wali Khan Babar case. army and establishment. Tere’s always this battle, but Buriro believes that Babar’s reporting got him in slowly it is moving in the right direction. Tey man- trouble—coverage o extortion, targeted killings, aged to prosecute the Rangers.” electricity thet, land-grabbing, riots. “In Gulestan- Te trial concluded on August 12, 2011. Te deense e-Jauhar area, or example, which is dominated by appealed. And on August 17, Buriro and Mirza ew to the MQM, people were using electricity without
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 15 CLERKS IN THE ANTI-TERRORISM COURT WARNED THEM: ‘PLEASE DON’T TOUCH THE CASE IF YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE.’
meters, not paying the electric company, and MQM touch this case. Every court copy is sent to Nine Zero,’” was charging the ee and collecting the money on Buriro recalled. Te judges and prosecutors understand their own behal,” Buriro said. “When this story was that everything going on in the courts is reported to the reported and was aired, the MQM threatened Wali MQM. It’s another orm o intimidation. Te institu- Khan Babar. In his last days he reported on the eud tional protection or the MQM goes right to the top. As in Pehlwan Goth over land-grabbing between MQM one human rights lawyer told me: “Te ISI tacitly sup- and PPP. Te investigation revealed that the MQM had ports the MQM. Once Wali Khan was murdered, the tried to murder Wali Khan several times.” MQM has its links with the ISI. MQM has the whole As soon as Buriro inherited the case, he began get- police in their hands. It’s inltrated institutions in ting anonymous threatening phone calls. Still, he stud- Karachi. Tey have a kind o power to instill ear. Tose ied the case thoroughly. “I concluded that the police who’ve been accused o this murder will be tried and did not investigate the case properly. I an ofender or acquitted, saying there’s not sucient evidence.” deendant gives a statement beore the police in an in- Which may be one o the many reasons Buriro and terrogation, that statement is not admissible beore the Mirza were red just a ew weeks ater their return court o law. It has to be beore a judicial magistrate. rom the United States. “When we were removed, we Te police had violated and damaged the entire case.” approached the prosecutor general o Sindh to nd out In part, Buriro doesn’t blame them. Te police ocers are why we were condemned unheard, why we were sacked araid. Tose who took park in the crackdown against the without any justication,” Buriro told me. “He told MQM in the 1990s have almost all been murdered in retali- us, ‘Keep your mouths mum. It is better or you.’” Te ation. As interior minister, Rehman Malik requently visited agencies were not only threatening Buriro and Mirza MQM headquarters and publicly admired Alta Hussain. but their amilies as well. Teir children were inter- Te message inevitably trickles down to the entire police rogated “to exert mental stress on us ,” Buriro recalled. body. Tose who want to do their jobs are thwarted or, as in Te prosecutors kept looking to the judicial system or the case o the constables investigating Babar’s case, killed. protection, but it was in vain. As the two prepared to Buriro nevertheless called the investigating ocer le an appeal with the bar association, their superiors to nd out why he’d let so many legal lacunae in the told them to drop the matter. With little let to lose, case. “It’s very weak,” Buriro said. “All the [ocers] Buriro, Mirza, and colleagues called a news conerence. investigating terrorism are less educated, less qualied, Tey spoke out against the agencies and blamed the not knowing the law well.” Te obstacles acing these o- PPP government or ailing to protect its own. cers are twoold. On one hand are practical problems Tis seemed to make matters worse. Te ISI ordered such as inadequate criminal justice training, insucient them to appear at the oces o the head o Sindh intel- unding or orensics, decient security. And then there ligence at noon on December 22, 2011. Te prosecutors are the power politics: Te civilian government gets its were nervous and sought advice rom their journalist arm twisted by the groups with which it has ormed al- riends. “Tey told us, ‘Tey will try to make you their liances, like the religious parties, which back the jihadis, own agent. I you reuse, they will harm you. So many or the MQM, which has its own militant wing. people have been murdered mysteriously in Pakistan, so “When I inquired to the investigating ocer about many have been taken hostage by agencies.’ Tey told us the ate o the case, he was reluctant to reply properly. to leave the country immediately,” Buriro said. So of the record, he told me, ‘I’m helpless,’” Buriro At 6 a.m. on December 22, they let Karachi and head- said. “We were now a threat because we the prosecu- ed or the United States. oday there is a new prosecutor tors, according to the anti-terrorism act, are empow- in the Wali Khan Babar case—and a new murder. On ered to call anyone as a witness whom we deem t and November 11, 2012, two gunmen aboard a motorcycle proper. According to the anti-terrorism court, i any killed Haider Ali, the only remaining eyewitness in the [ocer] is conducting deective investigations, he is case, near his home in the Soldier Bazaar area o Karachi. liable to be convicted by the court.” He was meant to testiy in court two days later. He was Ironically, the prosecutors were warned o the danger also meant to be underground and protected. Abdul Ma- they were acing by MQM “inormants”—the clerks roo, the new prosecutor, complained to journalists that in their own anti-terrorism court. “Te clerks told us , police had not provided proper protection and that the ‘Please don’t touch the case i you want to stay alive. For criminal networks were so powerul they had no prob- the sake o God, i you want to see your amilies don’t lem eliminating a witness days beore his testimony. n
16 Committee to Protect Journalists Verbatim: Threats, Promises, and Fears
“No hal-hearted police measures or words o con- “Te protection o journalists is in my mandate.” solation rom the highest oces in the land will su- — Zardari, speaking to the CPJ delegation ce in the atermath o the brutal treatment meted in May 2011. out to journalist Umar Cheema o Te News.” —Editorial in the newspaper Dawn condemning “You want to be a hero? We’ll make you a hero. the September 2010 abduction and beating We’re going to make an example o you.” o Cheema. Intelligence agents were suspected —Waqar Kiani, correspondent or the U.K.’s in the attack. No arrests were made. Guardian , recounting the words o assailants who beat him or 15 hours in June 2011. Kiani had “Tis recurring pattern o death is a stark nega- recently reported on cases o abduction and torture tion o the most basic rights that the state is un- by men suspected o being intelligence agents. der an obligation to protect. ... Te task o the law enorcement agencies must be more than merely “What should I do? Not report what I know just to delivering dead bodies and injured to hospitals and stay sae?” claiming to be on high security alerts ater the act.” — A Pakistani journalist, in an interview with —Te Human Rights Commission o Pakistan CPJ or an article published in October 2011. in a January 2011 statement condemning Te journalist, who spoke on condition o the murder o reporter Wali Khan Babar anonymity, eventually fed the country. and a spree o targeted killings in Karachi. “Our announcement rom today is that all report- “I take Adnan’s ollowing statement as MURDER ers o Voice o America are our targets and should threat. He said: ‘Saleem I must give you a avor. We resign. Otherwise we will kill them.” have recently arrested a terrorist and have recov- —aliban spokesman Mukarram Khurasani ered lot o data, diaries and other material during to Bloomberg News ater the January 2012 murder the interrogation. He has a hit list with him. I I nd o VOA reporter Mukarram Khan Aati. your name in the list I will let you know.’” — Reporter Saleem Shahzad in an October 2010 “In the last 10 years, Pakistani journalists have email to his editor, documenting a meeting been observing the death anniversary o a mur- with Rear Adm. Adnan Nazir at ISI oces. dered colleague almost every month.” Shahzad asked his editor to keep the note“as — Prominent journalist Mazhar Abbas, record i something happens to me in the uture.” in a January 2012 commentary in Te News on the anniversary o the Babar murder. “Te ailure o this probe to identiy the culprits does, in all seriousness, raise a big question about “Pakistan has become a country where the corrupt our justice system’s ability to resolve such ‘mysteri- enjoy immunity and killers enjoy impunity.” ous’ incidents even in the uture.” —Umar Cheema writing or the CPJ Blog in —Te report o the ocial commission o inquiry April 2012 ater Pakistan opposed a UNESCO into the May 2011 murder o Saleem Shahzad. plan to combat impunity in journalist murders.
“President Zardari must make it a priority to “All murder is a tragedy but when journalists are ensure that Pakistan’s probing press is not orced killed, public debate loses a voice that can provide to rerain rom sensitive coverage in order to stay an important contribution to democracy. It is essen- alive.” tial that governments do all they can to ensure sae —CPJ Chairman Paul Steiger, ater a conditions or journalists to carry out their work.” May 2011 meeting with the president. — Irina Bokova, director-general o UNESCO, In the meeting, Zardari pledged to reverse in a December 2012 statement condemning the the country’s record o impunity. killing o journalist Saqib Khan in Karachi.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 17 CHAPTER II
A Death in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
n the evening o January 17, 2012, a year and our days ater Geo V reporter Wali Khan Babar was gunned down on a busy street in Karachi, Mukarram Khan Aati, a Osenior journalist in the tribal region o Pakistan, was ofering evening prayers at a mosque near his home in Shabqadar. wo men approached and red three times, shooting him in the chest and head. One o the bullets Protesters denounce the killing o Mukarram Khan Aati. passed through Aati and injured the imam as well. AP/MOHAMMAD SAJJAD Aati was pronounced dead at the hospital that night. Almost immediately Ihsanullah Ihsan, spokesman or ehrik-e-aliban Pakistan, which is based in the a literary monthly. When Deewa Radio, the Pashto- tribal regions, called journalists in Peshawar to say that language service o the U.S. government-unded Voice Aati had been told to stop propagandizing against o America, began broadcasting in 2006, Aati became the P in oreign media and to start including the its local correspondent. group’s perspective in his stories. Aati had ignored the Aati was involved in the local literary organization demands, he said, so the P killed him. Ihsan warned and developed a riendship with a ellow poet, Omar that the P had named several other journalists to Khalid, a young man who would become head o the its hit list—and i they didn’t shape up, they would also P in Mohmand. Tey were riends up until the day see their ends. Aati was killed. Tey discussed poetry and, inevita- Te president and the prime minister condemned bly, aliban wrath over Aati’s radio reports. Deewa the killing and ofered their condolences to the am- Radio and Radio Mashaal, the Pashto service o the ily. Journalists in the tribal areas were enraged, not U.S. government-unded Radio Free Europe/Radio just that their riend and colleague was dead, but that Liberty, are ollowed closely in the tribal areas because the aliban could kill a journalist who was so air, their programs are among the ew devoted to local and always in contact with them. “We oten laughed problems. Tat importance explains why journalists with Mukarram that he was like a spokesman o the working at Deewa and Mashaal are trapped in a vise, aliban,” said Shams Momand, a close riend rom squeezed by the P, the army, and their editors in Mohmand Agency who works or Samaa V. “He was Washington or Europe. Te aliban object to being so popular among the locals and the aliban—so why called “terrorists,” and protest that their version o would they claim the killing?” events is rarely aired. A teacher, poet, and social activist in his mid-40s, “Mukarram recorded the voices and cries o the Aati was one o the most senior journalists in the amilies o the Frontier Constables who were targeted Federally Administered ribal Areas, or FAA, and in a suicide attack, and that was the main reason or he was a role model or colleagues. Aati began his the aliban’s unhappiness with him,” said Ibrahim career some 20 years earlier, writing reports rom the Shinwari, who also reports or VOA and has come un- tribal areas or an Urdu-language daily and ounding der threat numerous times himsel. Shinwari recalled
18 Committee to Protect Journalists BY THE TIME U.S. AIRCRAFT STRUCK OUTPOSTS AT SALALA, KILLING 24 PAKISTANI SOLDIERS, RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES WERE ABYSMAL.
that the aliban repeatedly warned Aati that “VOA ound dead a ew days later, his body showing signs o is in act the voice o the Americans, and the voice o torture. the militants is not acceptable to VOA.” He added: In September 2011, Adm. Michael Mullen, chair- “Mukarram discussed with me the problem that the man o the U.S. Joint Chies o Staf, shocked both militants wanted to give their version o an incident. the United States and Pakistan with his blunt arewell Yet when the reports were aired on the radio, their testimony to Congress, declaring that the insurgent version was missing.” Haqqani network in Aghanistan was, in essence, a Ocially, there is no mystery to Aati’s death. He is militia sponsored by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intel- another casualty o the war on terror, aliban summa- ligence. He also told reporters that Shahzad had been ry executions, and U.S. programs that can put at risk killed on orders o Pakistani Army Chie Ashaq the local people associated with them. But unocially, Kayani and the ISI’s director general at the time, Shuja many I spoke with do not believe Aati was killed on Pasha. A Pentagon ocial and close aide to Mullen the orders o the aliban or or the publicly stated told me, “What you saw on September 20 was his own reasons. bitterness and disappointment over Pakistan’s reusal to change the way they do business.” n November 2011, U.S. aircrat struck two Te summer had seen the most lethal and brazen Pakistani outposts at Salala, near the border attacks emanating rom Pakistan. Tere was the with Aghanistan, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. Haqqani network’s attack on the Intercontinental Relations between the United States and Pakistan Hotel in Kabul. Tere was the Wardak truck bomb Iwere already abysmal. On January 27, 2011, Raymond that wounded 77 American soldiers on the 10th an- Davis, a U.S. contractor who worked or the CIA, niversary o the September 11 attacks. “Tat inuriat- gunned down two Pakistani agents on the busy streets ed him,” the Mullen aide said. “We told the Pakistanis o Lahore, claiming he acted in sel-deense. Te police that a truck bomb was coming our way, and they arrested him and a diplomatic row erupted between pledged to do something about it and didn’t. And the two governments. Eventually the Americans then the killing o Shahzad. He was urious, pound- paid blood money to the amilies, and the Pakistanis ing his desk. He called out the ISI and government released Davis. In the wake o the afair, the ISI and the or sanctioning the killing. At the end he elt be- army tried to bring down Husain Haqqani, then the trayed by General Kayani and the Pakistani military Pakistani ambassador to the United States, or, among establishment.” other things, issuing so many visas to U.S. citizens Ten, with relations between the two countries at who were part o a vast network involved in the drone a low, came Salala and the U.S. killing o Pakistani program and, it turned out, the operation targeting soldiers. Te Pakistanis demanded an apology and cut Osama bin Laden. In May 2011, the United States of supply routes or NAO orces. Te U.S. military launched its raid on Abbottabad, not only killing bin conducted an investigation, although the Pakistanis Laden, but striking a blow to the honor and pride o reused to cooperate and disputed the ndings. Ater the Pakistani Army. Local journalists lost ear and a seven-month standof, Secretary o State Hillary respect or the military. Rodham Clinton expressed regret in a statement that In late May 2011, militants connected to Al-Qaeda said “mistakes” had led to the attack. attacked the Mehran naval air base in Karachi, once Mukarram Khan Aati led early reports on the Sa- again humiliating the military. It was time or the lala attack or Deewa Radio and took part in what are intelligence agencies to strike back. Saleem Shahzad, a called two-ways, which are live exchanges with the sta- Pakistani reporter or Asia imes Online who covered tion’s studio journalists. Local residents had told Aati the aliban more closely than any other journalist in there was a aliban hideout just two kilometers rom the region, and who reported on Al-Qaeda inltra- the Pakistani checkposts, said a tribal area journalist, tion o the Pakistani Navy, went missing. He was who spoke on condition o anonymity. Te aliban’s
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 19 IN MOHMAND, A TALIBAN SPOKESMAN TOLD LOCAL JOURNALISTS THAT THE ORDER TO KILL AATIF CAME FROM ‘ABOVE.’
supposed proximity to the army—“under their noses,” responsibility or the murder o a journalist. “Beore as the journalist put it—was highly sensitive inorma- Mukarram, 11 tribal journalists were killed by un- tion because it could have provided some justication known persons. I know the militants killed them, but or the U.S. attack. Soon ater, the journalist said, Aati they never accepted responsibility.” began receiving threats rom the Pakistani Army, I asked him what he thought happened. “Everyone security agencies, and the aliban, all angered by what knows that the ISI and aliban have close links,” he had aired. Aati’s relatives and riends in Mohmand said. “It’s a act. Hundreds o army men up to the rank conrmed that he received threats rom militants and o colonel and major are working and operating in the security ocials immediately ater the Deewa reports ranks o aliban and have long hair and long beards. It were broadcast. could be an army man or agency man working in the No archive o Aati’s reports on Salala is available, ranks o aliban. Or they could just tell the aliban to according to Deewa. Naees akar, chie o the Deewa do it.” service, said reports typically expire within 24 hours Another colleague o Aati told me that some time and that no reports are archived or more than a ater the murder, a aliban spokesman in Mohmand month. Spozhmai Maiwandi, director o VOA’s South Agency told local journalists that the aliban were Asia division, said Aati’s Salala reports explained the helpless, that the order to kill Aati came rom “above.” geography o the area but did not mention a aliban I wrote to the aliban with the help o a Pakistani presence. Deewa ocials did not respond to CPJ’s journalist and told them the theory circulating about repeated queries seeking inormation on what was said Aati’s death. Here, in ull, is their email response: by the station’s studio journalists during their live two- way exchanges with Aati. Miss Rubin, rst o all ollowing Footsteps o our Known as a careul and savvy reporter, Aati might Holy Prophet Muhammad (May Allah be Pleased never have intended to mention the proximity o the with him) i Invite you to embrace Islam, the aliban in his Deewa reports. But the live two-way religion o Peace & Prosperity and it assures you exchanges are not always in the control o the eld success in lie and hereater. reporter. Studio journalists or U.S.-backed news Now coming to your question, everyone knows agencies, who are conducting the two-ways rom the that we are striving to implement Islamic Law saety o their oces, oten veer into sensitive material in Pakistan & whole world. We respect Human or ask provocative questions that can pose trouble or lie. We Killed Mukkaram Khan Ati and claimed those working in the eld, according to a number o responsibility or it. Reason was that he wasn’t reporters. giving us any coverage while reporting claims o our enemies which is clear breach o Journalistic ver the course o several interviews with norms. Instead he was a part o Mission by govern- diferent sources, including an ocial with ment and always tried to prove us terrorists, which the U.S. National Security Council, I was we are not. We claim that he was a Spy. We issued told a similar version o what may have led him warning many times. We also had and yet have Oto Aati’s murder. Tese sources not only linked Aati’s reservations on Institute or whom he worked and murder to the Salala reports, they said the aliban had we may arget it in Future, inect we will target any not acted on their own. Journalists who will violate the practice o Fair and “Te claim o his death was accepted by militants,” just journalism. said the tribal area journalist, “but according to my in- We believe in the Freedom o Journalism. ormation, the ISI were involved in his death.” When I From: asked him why the aliban took responsibility, he said, Ihsan-ullah-Ihsan “Saleem Shahzad was killed by the agency. Everyone Central Spokesman P knows it, and the agency took the blame. It might be the reason that, or the rst time, the aliban claimed A journalist rom the tribal areas who knows the responsibility or the killing o a journalist. I they aliban wondered whose response this really was, and didn’t, the journalists would blame the ISI and protest who might have dictated it. Was it the same people across the country.” who gave the order to kill Aati? But even as I asked He said it was uncharacteristic o the aliban to take him these questions, he said, “We all know who killed
20 Committee to Protect Journalists A police ocer at the gate to the Mehran naval base. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the base put the military urther on the deensive. REUTERS/AKHTAR SOOMRO
Mukarram, but we cannot say.” Or rather they cannot o bullets the size o Coke bottles. He said the Special say on the record. Forces team on the ground and others back at base When I asked the ISI about allegations o agency camp tried to nd out i there were Pakistani soldiers involvement in Aati’s murder, a Pakistani security on the border; they were told there were not. Sepa- ocial told me: “What can I say about that accusa- rately, a Pakistani liaison ocer working with Aghan tion? A person’s belies are his personal belies. He can and American counterparts was trying to nd out who believe the Easter bunny lays eggs or that Saint Nick was shooting at the Pakistani border posts. Somehow, climbs down the chimney. But this is totally unsub- neither side got the right answer or about an hour and stantiated.” I also asked the security ocial about the 45 minutes, until an American liaison ocer who hap- supposed proximity o the army and aliban bases. pened to be in Pakistan learned that Pakistani soldiers Te ocial, who spoke on condition o anonymity, were under attack rom an AC-130. responded with his own question: “Te post was there Te U.S. military ocer said that about a dozen to prevent cross-border activity. Why would we allow undeclared insurgents were killed in addition to the a aliban base right next to us?” 24 Pakistani soldiers. It’s possible, he said, that i U.S. Te obvious answer is that the aliban have been orces had inormation earlier about the presence o an asset o the Pakistani security establishment or Pakistani soldiers they might not have had aircrat some time. Te soldiers on the border are rom the chase down and kill the eeing men. He did not, how- Frontier Corps, which is composed mainly o Pash- ever, second guess the decision to call in close air sup- tuns rom the tribal regions. Tey oten sympathize port. And he was convinced that either the insurgents with the aliban or are intimidated into helping them. were ring on U.S. orces with the Pakistani soldiers Invariably they look the other way when the aliban looking on, or that they were ring together. are crossing. I also spoke to a U.S. ocial with the National A U.S. military ocer involved in the Salala attack Security Council who put his own interpretation on told me that a small team o U.S. Special Forces and the episode. “Te Frontier Corps are all Pashtuns about 120 Aghan commandos were doing a night raid sympathetic to the aliban, and they turn a blind eye on a village in Aghanistan when they took re rom a to the aliban and the U.S. guys know that. So they ridgeline on the Pakistani border. Te Special Forces liberally used the rules o engagement to re back or team called in close air support that included an AC- over an hour and a hal. Tey ollowed the shooters as 130 gunship loaded with repower including rounds they tried to escape rom the outpost to ensure they
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 21 A MURDER THAT SYMBOLIZED THE EASE WITH WHICH ONE CAN KILL A JOURNALIST, AND THE IMPUNITY ENJOYED BY ANYONE WHO DOES.
here is a pattern to the intimidation o journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov- ince, and it is a microcosm o what goes on around the country. Journalists have sources among the army, the agency, the militants, and at any moment they can wander too deeply into the maze o “security.” “Te ISI has so many people within the press corps, within the media who work with them, who are on their payroll,” said a journalist rom the tribal areas who let the country under threat. “In most o the cases it’s just to make contacts, and both sides help each other. Once, a riend o mine came over to my house with an ISI guy who had moved to the analysis wing. I asked him or contacts in the media wing and ater some time he asked i I expected money i he introduces me to media people. I said, no, I just needed contacts. I was surprised how openly he ofered me money. He said, ‘We have so many people on our payroll.’” Te journalist continued: “I was introduced to a colo- nel rom Waziristan. Sometimes we would meet and he was helpul. He would give me a lot o general advice o what was going on in the tribal areas. But then he asked The intelligence services were suspected o involvement in the May me to turn over sources to him that he wanted or his 2011 murder o reporter Saleem Shahzad . REUTERS own purposes. I couldn’t do that. I gradually distanced mysel rom that guy and thought I don’t need what were killed,” he said. “Add this to the list o things that he gives me. Tey come closer to you and i you don’t happen when you leave the army in the eld or so listen to them anymore you are in trouble.” long.” For the press in the tribal areas, the 2009 murder Te U.S. security ocial said he, too, believed that o Musa Khankhel, who worked or Te News and Pakistani intelligence was behind Aati’s murder. But Geo V, symbolizes the ease with which one can there is no direct evidence and, likely, there never kill a journalist, and the impunity enjoyed by anyone will be. Without a ormal investigation, without any who does. During the army’s 2009 operations against judicial process, there will be no case, and no one the aliban o Swat, who had taken over the region, who lives and works in the tribal region is going to Khankhel arrived in Islamabad complaining to his come orward. What we are let with is anonymous bosses at Geo that the army was punishing him or conjecture and the experience o journalists and his reports by barring him rom operations and news locals who know how things work, have a history conerences. Geo had to take him of the air, and in the region, and can compare past killings with Khankhel retaliated by publishing screeds against the the present ones. Everyone knows by now that the army in other outlets. He was then kidnapped and aliban and the ISI have links, that there are “good, beaten. useul” aliban and “bad” aliban in the eyes o the “He came to me and said, ‘Record my statement,’” Pakistanis. Te aliban, too, know they are expend- recalled Hamid Mir, who was Khankhel’s supervi- able. Sometimes they dance careully with their ISI sor at the time. Mir published Khankhel’s statement handlers, and sometimes they rebel. Tey can be in his column in Te News. Te head o the internal hired to kill or next to nothing, so no one will ever wing o the ISI assured Mir nothing would happen to know who gave the trigger order. But the red line is Khankhel, but a ew days later Khankhel called rom clear: Do not report on the links between the Paki- Swat. “He told me the ISI would kill him and blame the stani military, ISI, and their assets. It’s against the aliban,” Mir said. “Ten he called me again and said, perceived national interest. ‘Tey’ve decided to assassinate someone rom Geo.’ I
22 Committee to Protect Journalists FROM THE MILITARY’S PERSPECTIVE, WHY WOULD COMMANDERS WANT REAL REPORTING TO EMERGE DURING THEIR OPERATION IN SWAT?
told him not to leave the hotel. I called the managing director o Geo in Karachi. An hour later [Khankhel] was killed with 32 bullets. Te message? ‘Don’t bad- mouth us.’” When I asked the Pakistani security ocial about Mir’s accusations, he said, “Let him interpret what he wants to. But to the best o my knowledge we don’t indulge in that kind o activity.” Killing or threatening? I asked. “Both,” he said. I told him I was surprised to hear that, given the number o journalists who eel threatened by the ISI. He stood by the claim nevertheless, and countered that journalists listen to “reason and logic.” “When I talk to someone,” he said, “I talk with reason and logic and give my point o view. You want to buy it? Fine with me. You don’t want to buy it? Fine with me.” He said he could not speak or everyone at the ISI. Tis was just how he conducted his own meetings. Ten again, i you encourage a journalist to buy your point o view, and you are with the ISI, your words carry ar greater implications than those o an average citizen. Mir, who was oten accused in the past o having too The security establishment was furious with Husain Haqqani, ambas- close ties with the ISI and militants, told me, “I used sador to the United States, for issuing visas to so many U.S. citizens. to tell colleagues, ‘Don’t trust the aliban and you’ll AP/ANJUM NAVEED reduce the threat 50 percent. Maybe the state institu- tions are better.’ We used to think they were on the no FM, no television in FAA. Until we have a strong same side as us to get rid o extremists, but that was media run by the tribesmen there is no way out o the our miscalculation,” he says now. In act, the agency’s poverty, illiteracy, and militancy.” philosophy is not that diferent in its view o killing Te killing o Musa Khankhel was not the only than that o the aliban. As Mir told me, “Retired journalist atality to occur during the Swat operations. agency ocials tell me, ‘We believe that killing a hu- In August 2009, Janullah Hashimzada, an Aghan jour- man being or the protection o the larger national nalist who reported or Te Associated Press, CNN, interest is not a bad thing.’” Al-Arabiya, and Shamshad, a Pashto-language Aghan V station, was shot dead in a bizarre ambush. He was rom the military’s point o view, why would on a passenger coach driving through Khyber Agency commanders want real reporting to emerge when our gunmen driving a white sedan, the standard Fduring their operation in Swat? It would ex- intelligence agency vehicle, intercepted the bus. Tey pose too much about the army, particularly the orced the bus driver out and then walked down the ISI’s complicity in the rise o the Swat aliban, and it aisle and shot Hashimzada in the orehead, killing him would undermine their propaganda. A BBC editor told on the spot. “Janullah was a very good riend o mine,” me that in 2009, the network was running FM broad- said Daud Khattak, a journalist rom Khyber Pakh- casts in Charsadda near Mohmand. “Te military shut tunkhwa who is now working or RFE/RL in Prague. it down ater the Swat operation in 2009. Tey told us, “Just a ew days beore he was killed he interviewed ‘We are running a propaganda campaign in Pakistan the aliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, and in his and anything that goes against that screws up this story he said they interviewed him in the Hyatabad campaign.’” ellingly, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty area o Peshawar.” In other words, Mujahid was openly and Voice o America do not even have transmitters or living in one o the main settled cities o Pakistan. “We towers in Pakistan. “Even our transmitters are in Mus- told him it would be a problem,” Khattak said. “Zardari cat,” in Oman, said the BBC editor. “Tere’s no mobile, was on his U.S. visit at the time.”
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 23 THE ARMY WANTS THE PRESS TO REPORT THAT EVERYTHING IS OK IN THE TRIBAL AREAS, A REPORTER TELLS ME. AS WE SPOKE, AN IED WENT OFF.
A Pashtun tribesman at the site o a 2012 bombing in Jamrud, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. REUTERS/FAYAZ AZI
Te consensus among many journalists is that Momand said. “Ater that the army banned me rom Hashimzada was another victim o an agency killing. going with them. Tey want us to report that every- o them, the pattern is obvious. thing is OK.” In act, it’s not. Te evening beore I met When a journalist airs a act that embarrasses the Momand, the aliban had destroyed a school; while military or the intelligence apparatus, an ocial will we spoke, he received a phone call that an IED had just visit, call, warn, and in some cases, i it happens too gone of on a local road. oten, kill the individual. I exposing unwanted truths can be atal, being When I asked the ISI about the Hashimzada murder, employed by an American or Western media outlet or the security ocial said: “I haven’t heard any such research institution incurs risk as well. Many journal- story.” ists have stopped using their names in reports. Riaz “Which part? Te killing o Janullah Hashimzada or Gul, who is based in Islamabad or Radio Mashaal, the accusation that the ISI killed him,” I asked. told me that in March 2012 he got a call rom a P “Both,” he said. “I don’t know about this incident.” spokesman giving him news o an attack in Swat. Sometimes the ofending piece o inormation is When we met in Islamabad, Gul recounted the conver- any inormation at all. Shams Momand, who works sation. “He told me, ‘You Mashaal people should air or Samaa V, has been navigating these tricky waters our voices; otherwise we know how to deal with you. or years because he, like Aati, comes rom Mohmand All you people at Mashaal became a party and are not Agency. In 2011, the army was claiming to have impartial, so please cover us as you cover other people swept Mohmand clean o aliban and returned lie to like the police and agencies. Tis is your duty.’ I said, normal. Anyone who lived there knew the reality. Te ‘We are doing our job. We can’t do anything i we send bazaars were still closed. Roads were still closed. our report to the head oce; it’s up to them whether “So I reported that the locals ace ear and their they like to put it on air or not.” Te Pakistani estab- businesses and activities are banned by the aliban,” lishment knows the aliban are putting this kind o
24 Committee to Protect Journalists pressure on journalists, but they sanction it by doing ministries, political parties, human rights activists, nothing about it. social activists. But in the tribal areas, NGOs are not For most journalists, in act, the intelligence allowed,” Dawar said. “Tere’s no power or human agency’s own pressure is ar more sinister. rights groups, no child labor laws, or anti-corruption, In March 2012, I met with a journalist rom the only the UJ. But the intelligence does not like the tribal areas who was working or Radio Mashaal in media because then [intelligence] cannot act so reely.” Islamabad. He was so spooked by months o harass- He quoted a saying about the tribal region: “FAA has ment by the agency that he nally quit. He seems to military, militancy, and media—and sometimes the have caught the attention o intelligence ocials not rst two get together against the third.” just or his aliation with a Western radio station but Te media do not belong to the people o the tribal also or his research papers or U.S. institutes linked to areas, either. Tey are basically oreign-owned. Te the government or military. aliban run illegal radio stations, but the government Shortly beore I let Pakistan, I met with Sadar will not issue licenses to ordinary citizens or radio Dawar, president o the ribal Union o Journalists, stations—which leads one to all kinds o conspiracy which plays a vital role in FAA. One o the prob- theories i you’re a citizen in FAA. “Tere is no local lems is that virtually no organization is allowed in the media. It’s banned,” Dawar said. “For that, we are told, tribal areas. “Here in Islamabad you have high court, we have to change the constitution.” n
For VOA Reporters, a Diicult Balance
he aliban’s claim that they murdered Voice ers in the region to include claims o responsibility or o America reporter Mukarram Khan Aati other relevant statements rom the aliban or other Tbecause he ailed to present their perspective groups, i they are important to the story. We do not in his stories was deeply troubling—i not air speeches and comments rom extremist groups terriying—to the local reporters o the U.S. govern- that are not germane to individual stories.” ment-unded news agency. What the aliban view as germane and what VOA Ibrahim Shinwari, a reporter with Deewa Radio, views as germane is precisely where the problem the VOA’s Pashto-language service, said he has lies or local journalists. Ater Aati ’s death, VOA been perplexed by the broadcast agency’s policies, a said it held discussions about the aliban com- sentiment expressed by other local journalists. Ater plaints. “Tese complaints were unounded,” King the Aati murder, he said, “we emailed the entire said. “In an efort to restate our policy, the chie hierarchy at VOA explaining the weak position we o our Deewa service and the division director are in. … But they say it’s against the policy o VOA sent emails and spoke by telephone with our local to take voices that are on the wanted list or declared reporters to reiterate VOA’s longstanding policy terrorists.” on balance, and the requirement that all sides o an VOA managers say the policy is not so clear-cut. issue are reported, including the aliban’s. Tere In response to local concerns, they ollowed up was no sotening or change in VOA policy ollowing with a memo that outlined a more nuanced ap- Mukarram’s death.” proach than the one commonly understood in the Te Broadcasting Board o Governors, which eld. “We were instructed in a collective email to oversees VOA, posthumously awarded Aati the David include aliban or any other militant group’s ver- Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, which rec- sion i they take responsibility or a certain inci- ognizes the courage, integrity, and proessionalism o dent,” Shinwari said. individuals reporting or U.S. government-sponsored In a statement, VOA spokesman Kyle King said, entities. For those in the eld, though, there is no get- “Deewa Radio and elevision, which broadcasts to ting around the risky business o working or a U.S. Pakistan’s tribal areas, has consistently asked report- government outlet. n
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 25 A DEADLY DECADE: JOURNALISTS KILLED 2003-2012
12 21 25 38
41
37 35 39
January 21, 2003 1 Fazal Wahab, Freelance January 29, 2004 2 Sajid Tanoli, Shumal 5 February 7, 2005 3 Allah Noor, Khyber TV February 7, 2005 4 Amir Nowab, Associated Press Television News and Frontier Post 23 May 29, 2006 5 Munir Ahmed Sangi, Kawish Television Network (KTN) June 16, 2006 6 Hayatullah Khan, Freelance 40 April 28, 2007 7 Mehboob Khan, Freelance June 2, 2007 8 Noor Hakim Khan, Daily Pakistan July 3, 2007 9 Javed Khan, Markaz and DM Digital TV October 19, 2007 10 Muhammad Arif, ARY Television 10 29 42 November 23, 2007 11 Zubair Ahmed Mujahid, Jang 11 February 9, 2008 12 Chishti Mujahid, Akbar-e-Jehan February 29, 2008 13 Siraj Uddin, e Nation May 22, 2008 14 Mohammed Ibrahim, Express TV and Daily Express August 29, 2008 15 Abdul Aziz Shaheen, Azadi November 3, 2008 16 Abdul Razzak Johra, Royal TV January 4, 2009 17 Mohammad Imran, Express TV January 4, 2009 18 Tahir Awan, Freelance February 18, 2009 19 Musa Khankhel, Geo TV and e News August 24, 2009 20 Janullah Hashimzada, Freelance April 16, 2010 21 Malik Arif, Samaa TV
26 Committee to Protect Journalists 8 15 19 14 1 13 27 28 36 20 7 3032 26 2 6 22 33 9 3 4
17 18 31
16 24 34
April 17, 2010 22 Azamat Ali Bangash, Samaa TV May 9 or 10, 2010 23 Ghulam Rasool Birhamani, Daily Sindhu Hyderabad May 28, 2010 24 Ejazul Haq, City-42 TV September 6, 2010 25 Ejaz Raisani, Samaa TV September 14, 2010 26 Misri Khan, Ausaf and Mashriq December 6, 2010 27 Abdul Wahab, Express News December 6, 2010 28 Pervez Khan, Waqt TV January 13, 2011 29 Wali Khan Babar, Geo TV May 10, 2011 30 Nasrullah Khan Afridi, Khyber News Agency, Pakistan Television, Mashriq May 29 or 30, 2011 31 Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online June 11, 2011 32 Asfandyar Khan, Akhbar-e-Khyber June 17, 2011 33 Shafiullah Khan, e News October 7, 2011 34 Faisal Qureshi, London Post November 1, 2011 35 Javed Naseer Rind, Daily Tawar January 17, 2012 36 Mukarram Khan Aatif, Deewa Radio May 19, 2012 37 Razzaq Gul, Express News TV May 28, 2012 38 Abdul Qadir Hajizai, WASH TV September 29, 2012 39 Abdul Haq Baloch, ARY Television October 7, 2012 40 Mushtaq Khand, Dharti Television Network and Mehran November 18, 2012 41 Rehmatullah Abid, Dunya News TV, Intikhaab November 22, 2012 42 Saqib Khan, Ummat
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 27 CHAPTER III
Soldiers guard a street in Gilgit ater an extremist group threatens violence. REUTERS/AKHTAR SOOMRO
Intimidation, Manipulation, and Retribution
couple o years ago, Hamid Mir, Najam Sethi, he is sometimes being ollowed. Te next time he was Umar Cheema, and other prominent gures pursued, as he was traveling with amily and chased Ain the news media began going public with through the streets, he went public again. But soon he the threats they were receiving rom intel- stopped. He realized he would start to seem paranoid. ligence agencies. It was a risky calculation, but the It’s a tricky dance that journalists must improvise. I silence, they reasoned, encouraged intimidation and they are covering security, the wars, and the militants, allowed impunity to persist. they will inevitably have contacts in the security estab- Cheema, a journalist with Te News who was expos- lishment, which is where the trouble usually begins. ing corruption in the army, had repeatedly been warned Journalists like Mir, Sethi, or Mohammad Malick will at- by ocers o the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate tack one piece o the establishment too hard, the threat to stop writing. Te last ocial notice came during a rises to a serious enough level that they have to leave the meeting with the head o the ISI’s Islamabad detach- country, the crisis passes, and they resume their attacks. ment, when a colonel told Cheema he was overdoing it with his articles about the thrashing o a civilian proes- ter the May 2011 U.S. raid on Abbottabad, as sor at the army-run National University o Modern the V anchors pounded the military or be- Languages. Te university’s registrar, the man who had Aing incompetent, Hamid Mir, one o the most beaten the proessor, was an ex-brigadier, and Cheema popular personalities on Geo V, got a call was accusing the army o protecting its own. rom a brigadier that the director general o intelligence Te ISI meeting was cordial, but it was the last o at the time, Shuja Pasha, wanted to see him. Here’s how its kind. In the next encounter, in September 2010, the conversation with Pasha proceeded, according to Mir: Cheema was pulled over at night by men dressed as “Mr. Mir, this system and Pakistan cannot police commandos. Tey told him he’d hit and killed a co-exist.” pedestrian. He knew they were lying but had to ollow. “What system?” asked Mir. He was taken to a sae house, stripped naked, beaten to “Te parliamentary orm o democracy and a pulp, and lmed. “When they released me, they told Pakistan.” me not to go public. Tey took pictures o me naked, “Do you want a presidential orm?” asked Mir. orcing me to take poses, and said i I spoke up the pic- “Yes.” tures will be put on Youube,” Cheema recalled. “Ater “Tis is not your job. It’s the job o Parliament to that, when I was headed home, I was thinking: What change the constitution.” should I do?” Speak out, he wondered? “I told mysel I’ll Pasha then spoke abusively about the son o the Pun- have to do it. Silence won’t help me.” jab chie minister, the son o the president, the sons o Cheema’s writing is more orceul than ever today, other chie ministers. “Do you want your children ruled but the ear hasn’t let and neither has the eeling that by these sons?” he asked Mir.
28 Committee to Protect Journalists THE ISI SHOULD ‘DEFLATE ITS LARGER-THAN-LIFE IMAGE’ AND FOCUS INSTEAD ON ITS MANDATED JOB, ONE JOURNALIST TESTIFIED.
“We had a very bad meeting,” Mir told me when we met in Islamabad. “He is talking politics the whole time.” Ater that meeting, parliamentary democracy and the sons o diferent politicians began taking a critical beating rom talk show hosts and columnists. And suddenly they were all promoting Imran Khan, the popular cricketer-turned-populist-politician who led the Pakistan ehreek-e-Insa party, or PI, in the May 2013 elections. Pasha had decided Khan was the man to back. “Politicians called me, ‘Mir, Mir, I want advice. Should I join Imran Khan? Pasha is putting pressure on us.’”
When I asked the ISI whether Pasha had been push- Police display a bomb ound under the car o Hamid M ir in 2012. ing support or Imran Khan, a security ocial denied REUTERS/SOHAIL SHAHZAD the reports. “Pasha was never pressuring any politicians to join PI,” he said. “Tere are allegations and people Shahzad said he interpreted the comment as a threat are saying PI was being patronized by Pasha, but there against his lie. We know all this because Shahzad was is no truth to it. I have asked Pasha many times.” unnerved enough to write up notes o the meeting and But another V anchor said he had a similar run-in put them in an email to his editor, ony Allison, and with the ISI. “Beore Abbottabad they called me be- others. He asked his editor to “keep this email as record cause we were criticizing the ISI’s political role, which i something happens to me in the uture.” He also sent kept breaking with the political parties,” said the anchor, a version o the email to Nazir, which he labeled “or the who spoke on condition o anonymity. wo ocers met record” in the subject line. with him and put him on the spot: “Why do you keep Seven months and many critical stories later, Saleem criticizing ISI? Why do you utter the name o ISI?” Te Shahzad was dead. During the ocial investigation anchor said he pushed back: “So I said, ‘Why can’t we into Shahzad’s murder, a number o other journal- name the ISI in that situation?’ I told them my two com- ists reported being pressured by intelligence ocials plaints were why do you harass journalists and why do during encounters similar to the meeting described by you interere in the political process.” Te senior ocer Shahzad. “Te ISI must deate its larger-than-lie im- denied the ISI did either. And so the anchor asked why age, ocus on its mandated job, and evolve a transpar- Pasha was supporting Imran Khan i the agency had no ent policy in its relationship with the media,” Imtiaz political agenda. “Tey said I shouldn’t criticize the ISI Alam, secretary-general o the South Asian Free and I shouldn’t name the ISI. I didn’t agree with their Media Association, said in testimony beore the ocial views, and at the end o the meeting the senior person commission o inquiry. Halting the practice o harass- told the junior person: ‘He needs more sessions.’” ing journalists, he said, was one place to start. Such a comment might seem empty were it not or In testimony beore the commission o inquiry, Pakistan’s well-established record o pressure, intimida- Nazir denied making the comments attributed to tion, and retribution against critical news media. Saleem him in Shahzad’s emails. Nazir acknowledged getting Shahzad, an Asia imes Online reporter, was summoned Shahzad’s “or the record” email but said it was not to ISI oces in October 2010 ater writing an article “expedient” or him to respond. Brig. Zahid Mehmood about the release o a aliban leader. During the meeting, Khanare, who testied on behal o the ISI, denied that the director general o the ISI media wing, Rear Adm. the agency engaged in the harassment o journalists. Adnan Nazir, told him that the story had embarrassed the country and urged him to retract the article and divulge n a way, the army and ISI are in shock. Ever since his sources, Shahzad told colleagues. When he reused, Pervez Musharra allowed the licensing o private Shahzad said, Nazir made a parting comment: “Saleem, I broadcasters in 2002, there’s been an explosion must give you a avor. We have recently arrested a terror- o media outlets. Te press has never been so ist and have recovered lot o data, diaries and other mate- Iree or so critical. Nor have members o the security rial during the interrogation. He has a hit list with him. I establishment ever had to answer or their policies, I nd your name in the list I will let you know.” mistakes, and crimes in a public orum the way they
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 29 ONE PROMINENT JOURNALIST DESCRIBES ‘A LONGSTANDING TRADITION OF ISI PENETRATION’ OF THE NEWS MEDIA.
wing calls up preerred anchors, talking heads, and newspaper editors and tells them what line to push. When the Kerry-Lugar Act o 2009 was adopted, or ex- ample, the security establishment was urious because it meant U.S. unds could be directed to civilian authori- ties without going through the military. Although most o the Pakistani public had little idea what the law said, anchors and talking heads were brought into the mili- tary’s media wing and told why it was against the na- tional interest. Almost immediately the airwaves were lled with V programs bashing the Kerry-Lugar Act. Other methods are used to secure media loyalty: Many Pakistani cities, or example, have what are called Najam Sethi and his wie, Jugnu Mohsin, take exceptional “media colonies,” where the government sets aside land measures to ensure their saety. REUTERS or journalists at subsidized rates. A ree, even coura- do now. Ater the bin Laden raid, the media demanded geous press is not mutually exclusive o a manipulated answers rom the army: How could the United States press anywhere in the world—and certainly not in have carried out the operation undetected? Was the Pakistan. As an American ocial in Pakistan put it: army, with its bloated budget, incompetent or in ca- “It’s a manipulated media, but remarkably ree. Right hoots with the United States? Which was it? now in the Urdu newspapers they plant scare stories Teir honor insulted, intelligence and military o- about the U.S. building a cantonment in Islamabad cials began thrashing back at the media, using the with 300 Marines secreted away in the U.S. Embassy!” methods they have always relied on: intimidation or Not just that, but the Urdu press and even Mir on his “ownership,” that is, buying the loyalty o journalists V show have accused Americans working in Pakistan or encouraging loyalty through access. “Tere is a o being spies, even giving out their addresses. longstanding tradition o ISI penetration o the media Te major networks employ a calculated balancing that goes back 30 years and started in a big way during act. So, or instance, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, chie ex- Gen. Zia ul-Haq’s regime,” said author and journalist ecutive o the Jang Group, will allow the army to sway Ahmed Rashid, a CPJ board member. “Allowing a ree his anchors on Geo V, but ollow the America-bash- electronic media during Musharra’s time certainly ing with a hal-hour slot o Voice o America. “It’s a presented a challenge or the intelligence agencies game you play constantly with how much inuence and because o the large number o V stations that were how much you can get versus where to concede,” said started. But they have been successul in penetrating Faisal Bari, senior adviser on Pakistan with the Central all the V networks in one way or the other.” Eurasia Project o the Open Society Foundation. So amid the Abbottabad outcry, the agency ed trust- Increasingly on the important talk shows, liberal voices ed news anchors a harshly anti-American line. One are being eased out, replaced by retired generals and political analyst said the Pakistani Army chie, Ashaq other right-wing pundits. Geo has been careul to bal- Kayani, allowed the ISI to push the stance with loyal ance out the programs o Sethi and Mir—both o whom news media. For Kayani, it was a matter o upholding regularly criticize and expose the security establishment’s the military’s honor, said the analyst, who spoke on wrongdoing—with programs supporting the military’s condition o anonymity. “He’s basically a person who heroic eforts or simply airing patriotic songs. Geo believes in honor above all. He’s crazy about honor. He has learned its nancial lessons over the years. Under comes rom a community where honor is worth killing Musharra, the network was simply shut down or a ew or.” Te ISI chie was similarly motivated. “Pasha told months. Under President Asi Ali Zardari, in 2011, the a riend o mine, ‘We went ballistic when they killed government twice tried to revoke Geo’s sports channel Osama. We lost our minds we were so angry.’” license, a step that could have cost the station millions Just about every newspaper and V station has had it not been blocked by the Supreme Court. Tough someone who is either sympathetic to the ISI and army the government ocially cited the lack o a “security point o view, or willing to be sympathetic or a price. clearance” or the revocations, everyone understood that Many Pakistanis can even name them. Te ISI’s media Zardari’s government was trying to take revenge or Geo’s
30 Committee to Protect Journalists THE NETWORKS EMPLOY A BALANCING ACT. PROGRAMS CRITICAL OF THE SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT ARE FOLLOWED BY ONES THAT EXTOL THE MILITARY’S HEROISM. constant attacks on the president. For the most part, media and government thrust and parry, nding a way to live with each other. Until someone goes too ar.
ethi, longtime editor-in-chie o Te Friday imes and host o his own show on Geo, has Smanaged through connections, humor, high visibility, and sheer gumption to evade physical punishment numerous times. At times, Geo took to cutting of the audio when he touched on “problem- atic” issues such as criticizing the judiciary. And then there were the threats to his lie since 2007, rst rom the aliban or calling them terrorists instead o “mili- tants” as other journalists do, and then rom the ISI. Umar Cheema’s reports on corruption and abuse o power led to threats and intimidation. AFP/AAMIR QURESHI Intelligence ocers have either raged at him or passed on messages rom their higher-ups that his programs dragged rom his home and detained on accusations o went too ar in their criticisms o the army and the ISI treason. ater the revelation that bin Laden was hiding out in “I was their prisoner or seven months and I know Abbottabad, not ar rom the Pakistani capital. how these things happen. I was in solitary like a ootball On May 2, 2011, Sethi did a program about the raid rom one interrogation to another—MI, ISI, Special in which he said the army generals were either com- Branch—and I know where people are taken and what plicit or incompetent. Tis led to a stormy meeting with happens and I also know who is killed and who isn’t.” then-ISI chie Pasha in which each accused the other o So despite their warnings to back of, Sethi stood by his misplaced patriotism. Te Mehran naval base was at- accusations o ISI involvement in Shahzad’s murder and tacked soon ater, and journalist Shahzad was kidnapped went even urther. “Tey only meant to rough him up in Islamabad. A ew days later, his tortured corpse was and teach him a lesson,” he said. “Te ISI can be mean shed out o a canal. Sethi went on air and alleged that but they don’t kill people in custody just like that. I the ISI was behind the kidnapping and killing. “Saleem reconstructed the scene o what probably happened. I had conded to me and others like the representative said that Saleem probably died o asphyxiation owing to o Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, Ali Dayan Hasan, injuries on his ribs. I said what normally happens is that and the head o the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, people are picked up and gagged and blindolded, and Hameed Haroon, beore his kidnapping that he was in put in a sack or gunny bag. Tey rst try to destroy your serious trouble with the ISI and eared he might be dealt condence by creating ear. When the victim arrives at with harshly,” Sethi told me rom his home in Lahore. the secret destination, he is dumped on the oor. Ten Ater Shahzad’s murder, Sethi also devoted several the kicking and shouting starts. Te kicks are random, o his nighttime talk shows to Al-Qaeda’s inltration o but one ends up in a etus position. You get kicked in the military, and ocials’ turning a blind eye to it—a the head and the ribs. It’s the ribs in the upper part o subject Shahzad rst exposed in his columns or Asia the body. I said when the autopsy is done we should imes Online. A senior minister whom Sethi would look out or evidence o such torture. Four days later not identiy inormally advised the journalist to back the autopsy said the sixth rib and 10th or 12th rib were of i he cared or his saety. cracked and had punctured the lungs. Tese guys who Te ISI was urious with Sethi, although he was not do all this are not experts in torture.” alone in accusing the agency o killing Shahzad. Te Te army and intelligence services were, not surpris- diference in Sethi’s case is that he is relentless and ingly, upset with Sethi’s exposition. “Every journalist in provocative and his late-night program is one o the town who had links with these guys said they are hop- most popular. He has also had extensive experience ping mad at you,” Sethi said. And yet he still demanded being “disappeared.” Sethi was imprisoned at length a commission o inquiry in Shahzad’s death. Te gov- during the 1970s in connection with the Baluch upris- ernment said no. So he went on V. “I said, ‘I’m calling ing. In 1999, ater an interview with the BBC about on the media to boycott the government and the army’s corruption in the Pakistani government, Sethi was news. We demand a commission o inquiry and i there
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 31 THE COMMISSION THAT INVESTIGATED SHAHZAD’S MURDER CONCLUDED THAT THE ‘CULPRITS CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED.’ EVERY KEY QUESTION WENT UNANSWERED. is none we won’t publish the news or press statements’” 2012, Sethi did a series o stories that dissected the ills o the Inter Services Public Relations, Sethi said. A o the army and ISI, exposing how spies, beginning ew days later, the government announced a com- under Musharra and now Kayani, have slowly taken mission o inquiry headed by a judge and including a over an army that used to be well-organized and strait- journalist representative o the Pakistan Federal Union laced. A highly placed minister whom Sethi would not o Journalists. Sethi then criticized the inclusion o name warned him that the government was picking up pro-military bureaucrats in the commission o inquiry, chatter that the security establishment was annoyed. In which urther incensed the military. a telling comment, the minister told Sethi that the gov- Te commission was meant not only to inquire ernment didn’t want to lose him and that, “you know into the background and circumstances o Shahzad’s power lies somewhere else.” It’s true, but it’s very unset- abduction and murder but also to identiy the culprits. tling to hear rom a high-level government ocial. Instead, ater laying out the testimonies o several Attacks have come rom other corners as well. “Journal- journalists, Human Rights Watch, police, and the ISI, ists close to the ISI are constantly accusing me in print and the report in efect said that any number o the actors on the Internet o being in the pay o America,” he said, an in the war on terror could have killed Shahzad. accusation that amounts to an incitement to violence or “Almost every journalist o repute in the country has the Jihadi networks. “Tis is a repeat o what happened to rubbished the report o this commission, which exon- me in 1999 when I ran a campaign exposing corruption in erates the ISI and leaves all key questions unanswered,” the Nawaz Shari government at the highest level. Te pro- Sethi said. In particular, the commission concluded government media accused me o being an ‘Indian agent’ that “the culprits cannot be identied.” and I was imprisoned or alleged treason. Ater I was reed Te Home Ministry eventually issued an advisory by the Supreme Court, the government’s dirty tricks de- to police and intelligence agencies regarding threats partment slapped me with dozens o trumped-up income against Sethi and his amily, which prompted the tax evasion cases in order to harass me. Te Musharra government to provide police guards. Nevertheless, government withdrew all the cases and the income tax o- Sethi learned through what he described as high-placed cers who had done the Shari government’s bidding came sources that he was on a death list and needed to leave and apologized to me later. So did the then-prime minister, the country. Sethi and his wie, Jugnu Mohsin, spent Nawaz Shari, who said he was put up to it by a ‘misguided’ three months in 2011 as senior ellows at the New henchman. I am going through the same sort o harass- America Foundation in Washington. While Sethi was ment today at the behest o the ISI, and the income tax away, a credible source back home called and warned department is coming under pressure to harass me.” him to stay away or some more time. He was told o a plot by a jihadi organization close to the military to kill amid Mir is one o the most popular aces on him, along with two other critical journalists, Khaled television, and part o his appeal is precisely Ahmed and Imtiaz Alam, both o whom work or the Hwhat makes many wary o him. He’s a tal- South Asia Free Media Association, which is in the bad ented showman and has cultivated sources books o the military or advocating détente and peace in every arena. Back in the days when he secured an in- with India. But Sethi decided to risk a return. He cut terview with Osama bin Laden, he was accused o being short his trip to the United States, returned to Pakistan, too close to the ISI—how else could he have pulled of and in his rst V show rom his hometown said that such a coup? Tese days he is considered sympathetic he was “threatened by state and non-state actors” and to the militants and close to Zardari. Whatever his po- that “i anything happened to him or his amily the top litical leanings, he relishes a good ght on the air. leadership o the military would be held responsible.” At the end o 2007, in the midst o the lawyers’ For months, he ventured out o his home only se- movement against Musharra, Mir was banned rom lectively and politely declined invitations to attend or Geo V or our months by the general himsel. speak at local conerences. Te house is protected by Te movement began in March o that year ater armed guards, an alarm system, and surveillance cam- Musharra sacked Chie Justice Itikhar Muhammad eras. Te Sethis have invested in an armored vehicle. Chaudhry and lawyers took to the streets demanding Geo built a studio in his home rom which he broadcast his reinstatement and the upholding o the constitu- a thrice-weekly show on current afairs. But the threats tion. Te media (including Mir) played a signicant continued, as did Sethi’s provocative shows. In spring part in supporting the movement. Mir took his show
32 Committee to Protect Journalists THE CONFLICT IN BALUCHISTAN IS WIDELY IGNORED BY MAJOR MEDIA. IT’S NOT ONLY HARD TO REPORT, THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT IT COVERED. to the road, organizing street programs, gathering In the end, Mir took one police guard at home and huge crowds. In 2009, he inuriated the army by re- one at the oce. porting rom within the aliban—which had allegedly Ten, in January 2012, Interior Ministry sources told kidnapped him and then let him tell their side o the him that the phone numbers rom which the threaten- story. Ten his colleague Musa Khankhel was killed. “It ing messages were sent belonged to serving members became clear i you’re killed, nothing will happen,” he o the ISI. Despite such evidence, the public accusa- said o both the Khankhel and Shahzad cases. tions against Mir got even more absurd. Te agency In 2011, he decided to take up the issue o Baluch- claimed he was a CIA agent and had actually hacked istan. With the intensiying insurgency, the amilies o his own phone to make it seem as i he had received missing Baluch ormed camps in the park across rom messages rom the ISI. Parliament in Islamabad and outside the press club in Mir eventually dropped the issue and moved on Karachi, anywhere they could get a hearing. Te war to other reporting. He did a show about the amily in Baluchistan is widely ignored by the major media o missing persons who had set up camp in ront o outlets in Pakistan. As BBC journalist and novelist Mo- Parliament. An elderly woman had led a petition to hammed Hani put it: “It’s hard to report. Te agencies the Supreme Court to get back her three sons, dead don’t want them to report it. Te networks don’t want or alive. Tey had been abducted rom jail by men to ofend the Punjab oce”—meaning the authorities who were alleged in court to have been with the ISI. in Islamabad—“and there’s no advertising coming rom One son was dead. By the time the other two were Baluchistan so they don’t care. But probably the biggest produced in court, their mother had died. Mir showed actor is ear.” As soon as the BBC goes to Baluchistan, the covered aces o the accused abductors as they ap- he added, “Intelligence ollows them, stops them, and peared in court, and he lambasted them on television. drives them back. Even reporting the basic acts that Ater the show Zardari called Mir. Here is how Mir someone was kidnapped or killed is increasingly risky.” recalled the conversation: Still, Mir did a show on Baluchistan. “Young people “You are playing with re. I don’t want to lose want an independent homeland,” Mir told me when we you. It will be another bad patch on the name o met in Islamabad, shortly ater he had returned to the my government i you are killed.” country ater a brie departure or security reasons. “But “What shall I do?” Mir asked him. elders are saying, ‘We can’t survive without Pakistan. “Be careul,” said Zardari. We’ll be slaves to Iran or Aghanistan i we secede. It’s “Who wants to kill me?” better to ght or our rights.’” One Baluch leader said “I don’t know.” the Pakistani Army was really a Punjabi army. So Mir “Sir, I suppose you are the supreme commander presented the statement to two Punjabi parliamentarians o the armed orces o Pakistan.” live on his show. “Tey said, ‘Yes he’s right.’ I got a text “ry to understand!” Zardari shouted. message ater the show. ‘We will beat you on the road. Te president’s oce did not respond to CPJ’s request An army ocer will teach you a lesson. You’ll be naked.’” or comment on Mir’s depiction o the conversation. Tis is almost exactly what happened to Umar Cheema Mir persisted with his shows. Te next one was an in 2010, so Mir orwarded him the message. Te next day exclusive interview with Younis Habib, a banker who was Cheema published the whole afair in Te News. Te epi- on his death bed and decided to expose how in the 1990s sode quickly became a cause célèbre in Parliament, with the ISI plundered taxpayers’ money with the connivance Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the National Assembly oppo- o the Pakistani army to manipulate politics. Te story sition leader, claiming he was getting the same threats. was an important turn in the Mehrangate scandal, which Another commission was ormed. Te presidential brought a ormer army chie o staf and ISI director gen- engine revved up. Rehman Malik, then interior eral to court or the rst time in Pakistani history, with minister, called Mir and told him to orward the both sides accusing the other o misconduct. number and message. Te inspector general o police Shortly ater the show, Mir was advised to leave called. Zardari called. Malik called again and tried to the country, and he nally did or a week. But as Mir persuade him to take two dozen police or security, told me, i he is having these kinds o highly dramatic, an ofer Mir said was intended to righten him. “I am publicized troubles, just imagine what’s going on in the not an Indian agent and i I am that kind o high-value Federally Administered ribal Areas, Waziristan, and target why don’t they inorm me in writing?” Baluchistan beyond the eyes o the public. n
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 33 ‘In case something happens to me’
even months beore his murder, Asia imes On- 2- Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir had the view line reporter Saleem Shahzad was summoned that story caused a lot o embracement or the Sto a meeting with Rear Adm. Adnan Nazir, di- country but observed that issuing a denial rom rector general o the Inter-Services Intelligence the government side is no solution. He suggested Directorate’s media wing. During the October 17, 2010, Syed Saleem Shahzad should write a denial o meeting, Shahzad said, he was pressured to retract a the story. story the agency considered embarrassing and urged to disclose his sources or the piece. 3- Syed Shahzad reused to comply with demand Shahzad resisted but came away with a sense o ore- and termed it impractical. boding. He wrote up notes o the meeting and sent them to Nazir in an email the ollowing day. Shahzad also 4- Rear Admiral Adnan was curious to know the orwarded copies to Ali Dayan Hasan, a Human Rights source o the story as it is a shame that inorma- Watch representative, and Hameed Haroon, head o the tion would leak rom the oce o a high prole All Pakistan Newspapers Society, asking them to keep intelligence service. the notes “in case something happens to me.” Here is the unedited text o the email to Nazir, 5- Syed Shahzad called it an intelligence leak but which was introduced as evidence in the ocial in- did not speciy the source. quiry into Shahzad’s murder: 6- Te conversation was held in an extremely For uture reerence: polite and riendly atmosphere and there was Meeting details as on October 17, 2010 at the no mince word in the room at any stage. Rear ISI headquarters Islamabad between DG Media Admiral Adnan Nazir also ofered Syed Saleem Wing ISI, Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir and Syed Shahzad a avor in ollowing words. Saleem Shahzad, the Bureau Chie Pakistan or “I must give you a avor. We have recently Asia imes Online (Hong Kong). Commodore arrested a terrorist and have recovered a lot o Khalid Pervaiz, the Deputy Director General data, dairies and other material during the inter- o Media Wing ISI was also present during the rogation. Te terrorist had a hit list with him. I I conversation. nd your name in the list, I will certainly let you Agenda o the meeting: discussion on Asia know.” imes Online story published on October 15, 2010, titled Pakistan rees aliban commander Shahzad wrote a separate email to his Asia imes (see http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ Online editor, ony Allison, that recounted the LJ16D02.html). meeting in similar terms. But his October 17 email to Allison, as described in the report o the ocial Te meeting discussed the ollowing issues. commission o inquiry, more explicitly laid out his 1- Syed Saleem Shahzad told Rear Admiral Ad- ears. Shahzad said he considered Nazir’s parting nan that an intelligence channel leaked the story. words to be a “murder threat.” However, he added that story was published only In testimony beore the commission, Nazir acknowl- ater a conrmation rom the most credible ali- edged receiving Shahzad’s email but denied making ban source. Syed also explained that DG ISPR the comments attributed to him. He said he did not was sent a text message about the story, but he respond to Shahzad because he did not consider it did not respond. “expedient.” n
34 Committee to Protect Journalists CONCLUSION
President Asi Ali Zardari speaks on the fth anniversary o the assassination o his wie, Benazir Bhutto. REUTERS/NADEEM SOOMR O
he murder o Saleem Shahzad in May 2011 without any ear or avor by interrogating all those galvanized journalists across Pakistan in a way (whosever) who should in the normal course be Tthat ew other events have. For a short time interrogated in the present incident …” their power as a “union” was elt. Tey secured a commission o inquiry. Tey named ISI ocers who And yet, “those recommendations have been made a had threatened Shahzad and many other journalists. hundred times,” said Hina Jilani, one o Pakistan’s pre- Tey detailed those encounters in a public record avail- eminent human rights lawyers who helped ound the able on the Internet. Te resulting report ofers a series independent Human Rights Commission o Pakistan o promising recommendations, saying in part: and who has been appointed to U.N. human rights act-nding missions around the world. She echoed n “…that the balance between secrecy and account- the sentiments o every journalist I spoke to regarding ability in the conduct o intelligence gathering be the report. “Te recommendations are very abstract,” appropriately readjusted with the aim o restoring Jilani said. “Tey don’t give a direction or an investiga- public condence in all institutions o the state; tion.” In act, the commission itsel says that making n “that the more important [intelligence] Agencies the intelligence agencies more accountable is up to … be made more law-abiding through a legisla- the executive and Parliament and that all the commis- tion careully outlining their respective mandates sion can do is ofer ideas or reorm. Te report does and role; that their interaction with the media be conclude with an eloquent summation o the history o careully institutionally streamlined and regularly the press in Pakistan and the universal need or a ree documented; press to hold government accountable. Ten, acknowl- edging their own impotence, the report’s authors n “… that, in this regard, a orum o Human Rights write: “Te ailure o this probe to identiy the culprits Ombudsman be created or judicial redressal o citi- does, in all seriousness, raise a big question about our zens’ grievances against Agencies, particularly the justice system’s ability to resolve such ‘mysterious’ grievances o the Media against attempts to intimi- incidents even in the uture.” date, harass and harm them; As Najam Sethi, editor o Te Friday imes and a n “that the Islamabad and Punjab Police should con- Geo V host, said: “Te commission was reluctantly tinue investigating the matter diligently, impartially set up. It became a cover-up job to protect the ISI.”
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 35 GOVERNMENT LEADERS CAREFULLY CALCULATE WHEN TO CONFRONT THEIR POWERFUL BROTHERS IN THE ARMY AND INTELLIGENCE SERVICES. THEY RARELY DO.
Without an independent and powerul judicial that the ISI were behind the killings o Shahzad, system—or even just a unctioning one—the press Aati, Musa Khankhel, and Janullah Hashimzada, he is at the mercy o ruthless orces like the Muttahida dismissed the charges as lies. When I told him that Quami Movement, the Inter-Services Intelligence journalists testiy to being intimidated and harassed by Directorate, the aliban, or any other action that agents o the ISI, he lost his temper. He accused me o uses violence as a tool o its trade. Unortunately, bias against the ISI. And he warned me about the trap the judiciary—including the police, judges, lawyers, o “the Goebbels theory: Repeat a lie so oten that it investigators—are underunded, unprotected, and becomes the truth.” Whether he was playing the role o in many cases, petried to go ater the MQM, to say the unairly accused or expressing genuine rustration, nothing o the ISI, the army, and sectarian terror- his ensuing comments were revealing both or what ists. Te prosecutors in Karachi who won their case they say about the ISI’s relationship with the aliban, against six Pakistan Rangers in the killing o an un- and the extremely wide gap between what the agency armed civilian have now lost their jobs and have no purports to want or its country and the policies it’s means to take care o their amilies. Te government carrying out. that appointed them does not back them up because He lashed out at Hamid Mir and Najam Sethi or the government is also beholden to the army and complaining that the ISI threatens them. “What is the intelligence, and its leaders must careully calculate journalists’ motivation?” he asked. “Why would they when to go head to head with their more powerul want to belittle the eforts that the ISI has put into brothers. Tey rarely do. ghting this war?” And he said, “We don’t have time I Shahzad’s murder had repercussions or the in- or these people. We are engaged in a war with people telligence agencies, it is only that they must be more who are killing my sons and daughters and brothers. careul about leaving traces o their work behind. My actions are not sucient to prove to everybody or Yes, aliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed anybody that I am sincere in my efort in this war on responsibility or the killing o Mukarram Khan terror and I’ll do anything and everything in my power Aati, but journalists rom the region doubt that the to eliminate this menace rom my country? I don’t aliban are operating without agency intervention. want my children and grandchildren to live in a coun- Pakistan has still not changed its policy o keeping try where bombs are exploding let, right, and center, extremist assets around or its wars with India and and 40,000 people have died in suicide attacks and Aghanistan. And once the aliban take credit or IEDs and 150,000 troops o my army are engaged in a murder, there is no need or an investigation. In continuous war!” He excoriated the United States and the case o Wali Khan Babar, suspects have been the 48 other countries that make up the International accused but the witnesses have been murdered. Security Assistance Force in Aghanistan. Tey claim Te MQM holds such powerul sway that almost to have come to bring peace, he said, but in reality they no journalist in Karachi would go on the record have set the region on re—and then have blamed it with his ears or suspicions. Even the aliban do not all on Pakistan. He recited the oreigners’ complaints: inspire such terror. “Pakistan has sae havens. Pakistan is protecting Te ISI and the MQM, with their strong-arm tactics, Haqqanis. Quetta shura [the aliban leadership] is in have dominated this report. For journalists, they are Pakistan.” And his rustration grew. “Even today the among the ercest Goliaths standing in the way, some- Pentagon report talks about Aghanistan not being times physically, sometimes psychologically. able to achieve peace and stability because o sae ha- Ater several weeks in the country I talked with a vens in Pakistan. Te Americans, with all the technol- security ocial, a colonel, who speaks to oreign me- ogy available to them, with no restrictions whatsoever dia on behal o the ISI. He talks only on condition o on rules o engagement, are unable to control the anonymity. I asked him about the threats Shahzad be- terrorists or so-called terrorists?” lieved he was receiving rom Rear Adm. Adnan Nazir, Ten he took another tack, saying, yes, there are which the reporter articulated in an email to his editor aliban sae havens in Pakistan. “Let’s say I agree the and others. “You can read anything into it,” the ocial Haqqanis are under my protection in Pakistan,” he said, dismissing the comments Shahzad attributed to said. Ten he calculated the distance rom Miran Shah, Nazir. “I don’t read it as threatening.” capital o North Waziristan, where the Haqqanis are, When I asked him to respond to the accusations to the Aghan border (20 kilometers) and then on to
36 Committee to Protect Journalists In Karachi, a protester denounces the 2009 murder o Geo TV reporter Musa Khankhel. REUTERS/ATHAR HUSSAIN
Kabul (270 kilometers). “Are you saying the ISI is so organizations, as Shahzad did. Some work directly or powerul that they can protect them all the way to U.S. government-unded media, as Aati did. And the Aghanistan? Jalaluddin”—the Haqqani patriarch—“is Western media are viewed as a kind o espionage and senile. Siraj”—his son—“is ghting this war. And to the propaganda wing or Western governments—that is, best o my knowledge he spends 20 days a month in an enemy o the Pakistani security establishment. Aghanistan. What you can’t do in Aghanistan you say Journalists will not be sae when Pakistan is at war we should do here?” with itsel, unable to decide i it is ghting jihadis or Tere are so many problems with every one o these saving them or a rainy day, unable to decide i it is statements. On the one hand, he suggests, perhaps Pak- an Islamic state or Sunnis only or a democratic state istan is harboring “your” enemies. On the other, he says that can tolerate and protect Sunnis, Shia, Ahmadis, why don’t “you” catch Haqqani when he crosses into Christians, and ethnic underclasses. Is it a civilian de- Aghanistan where “you” have troops—as i this were all mocracy or a military state disguised as a democracy? a cat and mouse game. But let’s leave that aside. He was Is it a Punjabi-run military oligarchy? Or a place where getting to his real point, which is one o the underly- Sindhis, Baluch, Pashtuns, Hazaras all have a place? In ing motivations or Pakistani support o the aliban. the rst weeks o January 2013, nearly 100 people were Te real problem, he said, is not those sae havens. Te killed in bombings in a predominantly Hazara Shia sec- problem o Aghanistan is not Pakistan. “It’s the entire tion o Quetta. Tree journalists covering the bomb- Pashtun nation which you [the West] have alienated ings died as well. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsi- because o your actions.” Te United States, he said, bility. Te army did nothing and said nothing. Hazaras brought in the wrong Pashtun with Hamid Karzai— lined the streets with cons demanding the army take “even the Pashtuns don’t accept Karzai as a Pashtun”— over. Tousands o Pakistanis marched through the and the rest o the Aghan government is composed o country demanding action against extremist organiza- ajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. And that is at the heart o tions. As o this writing, nothing has happened. the Pakistani-led insurgency in Aghanistan. Te problems acing the Pakistani state—unair Is it strange that a conversation about threats to allocation o resources, military domination o the Pakistani journalists should have detoured into a dis- economy, corruption, impunity, debt, terrorism, sec- quisition on the American-Pakistani “alliance” and the tarian killings—are so vast that they require a vision- Aghan war? Not really. In act, it lays bare the chal- ary leader and a government willing to go head to lenge acing Pakistani journalists. Tey must contend head with the all-powerul security orces. By demand- with a country that is efectively ruled by the security ing accountability rom the government, journalists apparatus, one that perceives itsel under threat rom can play one o the most important roles. Tey have its neighbors and the United States—and, in act, is already ormed inormal alliances with the judiciary, in conict with them all. Some Pakistani journalists, but they need to undertake additional initiatives o like Mir and Sethi, have enough clout, internal con- their own—a more extensive SOS alert network, a pact nections, and international support to speak out and to withhold airtime and print space rom those who squeak by. But those on the ringes are expendable, threaten their colleagues, and a decision by the owners victims o the so-called war on terror. o newspapers, V stations, and Internet outlets to put Pakistani journalists oten work with Western news protection over prot. n
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 37 CPJ’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Police ocers guard the Supreme Court building in Islambad. AP/ANJUM NAVEED
Te Committee to Protect Journalists oers the ollowing recommendations to Pakistani authorities, the Pakistani news media, and the international community.
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN n Investigate thoroughly and prosecute all those re- n Enact a statutory ramework or the nation’s intelli- sponsible or the murders o Mukarram Khan Aati gence services, as recommended by the commission and Wali Khan Babar, along with all those respon- o inquiry in the Saleem Shahzad murder. Te aim, sible or the murders o witnesses and investigators the commission said, is to make the agencies “more connected to the Babar case. Commit sucient accountable through efective and suitably tailored resources, political support, and security to those mechanisms o internal administrative review, and investigations. Doing so would demonstrate that Parliamentary oversight.” all individuals and entities are accountable under n As recommended by the Shahzad commission, cre- the law. ate an ombudsman to address “grievances o anyone n Reopen the 21 other unsolved journalist murder who complains o misconduct, or suspected mis- cases o the past decade. Investigate thoroughly, ap- conduct by intelligence ocials and agents.” News prehend all those responsible, and bring about suc- media complaints, as the commission urged, “should cessul prosecutions. Doing so would demonstrate be treated with particular seriousness.” the nation’s commitment to the rule o law. n Consider the adoption o journalist protection n Publicly disclose the ndings o all ocial inquiries initiatives modeled on those in other nations. Tey into attacks on journalists. In particular, release include measures such as those in Mexico, which the ndings o the ocial inquiry into the murder ederalized crimes against journalists and estab- o Hayatullah Khan, who was ound murdered in lished a ederal special prosecutor’s oce or crimes 2006 ater covering a sensitive national security against ree expression, and in Colombia, which matter. provides security directly to journalists under threat. n Provide sucient stang, unding, and training or n Cooperate ully in the creation and implementation police and prosecutors. End the practice o apply- o programs promoted through the U.N. Action Plan ing political pressure on law enorcement ocials. on Security o Journalists and the Issue o Impunity . Direct the intelligence services and all other arms o Trough its delegations to the United Nations, sup- government to halt all eforts to intimidate or pres- port unding and other resources needed or the sure law enorcement. plan to move orward.
38 Committee to Protect Journalists In Karachi, ags billow in the wind just beore Independence Day. REUTERS/ATHAR HUSSAIN
n Create the necessary legal ramework or the issu- news media, and Pakistan’s broad progress in imple- ance o private broadcast licenses in the tribal areas. menting the U.N. Action Plan. Set standards that are equitable with those applied elsewhere in the country, and issue licenses in a n Promote higher educational opportunities or jour- timely manner. nalists. Most universities ofer undergraduate and n Ensure that international news media are allowed graduate courses in media studies or communica- access to Baluchistan and the tribal areas. tions, but not in journalism. Large media houses and proessional groups, in particular, should prioritize TO PAKISTANI NEWS MEDIA and provide support or the establishment o Urdu- and English-language journalism schools. n Expand and strengthen security training and proto- cols across the proession. raining should be pro- TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY vided to journalists at news organizations o all sizes and to reelance journalists. Work with local and n U.N. member states should support the unding and re- international NGOs that are engaged in this process. sources needed to ully implement the U.N. Action Plan n Expand and strengthen existing cooperative proes- on Security o Journalists and the Issue o Impunity. sional eforts, ensuring that all key proessional n International donors should provide nancial sup- groups are represented. Speak with a unied voice port and expertise or security training o Pakistani in condemning and seeking action in response to journalists. Donors should ocus on initiatives aimed attacks, threats, and intimidation o the news media. at reelance journalists and those who work or mid- Consider drating and promoting proessional size and small news outlets. guidelines to assist journalists and news organiza- tions conronting issues o security and ethics. In n International news organizations should ensure Colombia, or example, news organizations came that security training is provided to all o their local together to develop guidelines or covering violent journalists. International news outlets should closely conict. examine the extreme risks their local journalists ace, adjust their policies in conormance with those n Work cooperatively to create and implement pro- risks, and ensure those policies are ully explained to grams promoted through the U.N. Action Plan on journalists in the eld. Te U.S. Broadcasting Board Security o Journalists and the Issue o Impunity. o Governors should pay special attention to the n Report on issues o anti-press violence, including unique risks that journalists ace when working or individual attacks, threats, and intimidation o the U.S. government-unded news agencies.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 39 APPENDIX
A lock symbolizes the choice acing many Pakistani journalists: Keep silent or risk attack. REUTERS/ATHAR HUSSAIN
Journalists Killed 2003-2012 Motive Confrmed
CPJ research has determined that 42 journalists were killed in Pakistan in direct relation to their work rom January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2012. An additional 12 journalists were killed in unclear circumstances during the time period. Capsule reports on each death ollow, beginning with cases in which CPJ has confrmed a work-related motive.
Fazal Wahab, freelance Rights Commission o Pakistan ound that police took January 21, 2003, in Mingora no evident action to apprehend the killers. ahab, a reelance writer, was shot by unidenti- Sajid Tanoli, Shumal ed gunmen as he sat in a roadside shop in W January 29, 2004, in Mansehra Manglawar Bazaar, near the resort town o Mingora in northwestern Pakistan. The shopkeeper and his anoli, 35, a reporter with the regional Urdu- young assistant also died in the attack. Tlanguage daily Shumal , was killed in the town o Wahab, who lived in Mingora, had published several Mansehra in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, books in Urdu and Pashto that were critical o local which is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tanoli religious leaders and Islamic militant organizations. was stopped on a highway, dragged rom his car, and Among Wahab’s work was the book, Mullah Ka Kirdar shot several times, the ocial Associated Press o (The Mullah’s Role), which analyzed the Islamic clergy’s Pakistan reported. involvement in politics. He had also completed a Tanoli had written critical stories about the head o manuscript about Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. the local government, Khalid Javed, including a piece Local journalists and human rights activists told CPJ published three days beore his murder that accused the that Wahab had received threats or years in connec- ocial o involvement in an illegal liquor business, news tion with his journalism. The independent Human reports said. Police led murder charges against Javed,
40 Committee to Protect Journalists prompting the ocial to ee, according to news reports. or tribal council, held by leaders o the Unar tribe, Although Javed eventually returned, the murder charges according to the Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists. were never revived, according to Kiran Nazish, a journal- An uncle and colleague o Sangi had recently been ist who has studied anti-press attacks in Pakistan. attacked in connection with the station’s reports that two children had been punished by the tribal court, Allah Noor, Khyber TV the journalist union said. Amir Nowab, Associated Press Television News Mazhar Abbas, then the secretary-general o the and Frontier Post journalist union, said Sangi’s body was not recovered February 7, 2005, in Wana or several hours ater he was shot. Journalists in unmen in South Waziristan atally shot Allah Noor, Larkana staged a sit-in to protest the killing o their Ga journalist or Peshawar-based Khyber TV, and colleague. Amir Nowab, a reelance cameraman or Associated The independent Human Rights Commission o Press Television News and a reporter or the Frontier Pakistan said Sangi had received threats in connection Post newspaper. The journalists were riding with col- with his coverage o alleged abuses by Alta Hussain leagues in a bus transporting them rom the town o Unar, a provincial minister. The Sindh Home Depart- Sararogha, where they had covered the surrender o a ment said that our people were arrested ater Sangi’s suspected tribal militant, Baitullah Mehsud. death and that three police ocials were suspended. A car overtook the bus about 7:30 p.m. near the town Unar was arrested in a separate case in 2008, but was o Wana, and assailants opened re with AK-47 assault not charged in relation to the killing o Sangi. ries, according to The Associated Press, which quoted Despite the initial arrests, the suspects were never Mahmood Shah, chie o security or Pakistan’s tribal brought to trial, according to Hadi Sangi, brother o the areas bordering Aghanistan. Two other journalists rid- slain journalist, and court documents reviewed by CPJ. ing in the bus were injured. Anwar Shakir, a stringer or Hadi Sangi also said that he and his brother’s widow, Agence France-Presse, was wounded in the back during Reshman Sangi, had received repeated threats. the attack, according to news reports. Dilawar Khan, who was working or Al-Jazeera, sufered minor injuries. Hayatullah Khan, freelance Nowab was also known proessionally as Mir Nawab. June 16, 2006, in Miran Shah Days later, a group calling itsel Sipah-e-Islam, or han’s body was ound by villagers in the North Soldiers o Islam, claimed responsibility or the killings in Waziristan town o Miran Shah, where he had been a letter axed to newspapers. It accused some journalists K kidnapped six months earlier. Khan was abducted on o “working or Christians” and o “being used as tools in December 5, 2005, by ve gunmen who ran his car of negative propaganda ... against the Muslim mujahideen.” the road as his younger brother, Haseenullah, watched Local journalists blamed ocials or not doing more helplessly. Local government ocials and amily mem- at the time o the murders. They said no attempt was bers said Khan, 32, had been ound handcufed and made to stop the gunmen’s vehicle even though the shot several times. His body appeared rail and he had attack took place in an area under government control. grown a long beard since he was last seen, Pakistani They also said no real investigation into the murders journalists told CPJ. took place. The day beore his abduction, Khan photographed The Pakistani military had begun an ofensive what apparently were the remnants o a U.S.-made against suspected Al-Qaeda ghters in South Wa- missile said to have struck a house in Miran Shah ziristan in early 2004. on December 1, 2005, killing senior Al-Qaeda gure Hamza Rabia. The pictures, widely distributed by the Munir Ahmed Sangi, Kawish Television Network European Pressphoto Agency on the day they were May 29, 2006, in Larkana shot, contradicted the Pakistani government’s explana- angi, a cameraman or the Sindhi-language chan- tion that Rabia had died in a blast caused by explosives Snel, was shot while covering a gunght between within the house. International news media identied members o the Unar and Abro tribes in the town o the ragments in the photographs as part o a Hellre Larkana, in southeast Pakistan’s Sindh district, accord- missile, possibly red rom a U.S. drone. ing to local media reports. At least one other person Khan, who was also a reporter or the Urdu- was killed in the clash, which Sangi recorded beore he language daily Ausa , had received numerous threats died. The station broadcast his video. rom Pakistani security orces, Taliban members, and Police said Sangi was killed in crossre, although local tribesmen because o his reporting. some colleagues believe he might have been delib- During Khan’s six-month disappearance, govern- erately targeted or the station’s reporting on a jirga, ment ocials provided his amily with numerous and
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 41 Journalists Killed 2003-12
oten contradictory accounts o his whereabouts: Khan returning rom covering a jirga, or tribal council. He was in government custody, soon to be released; Khan had been invited to witness the demolition o a house had been abducted by “miscreants”; he had been belonging to the perpetrator o a February car bomb- taken by Waziristan mujahideen; he had been own to ing that had killed a local physician. The demolition the military base at Rawalpindi and was then detained was part o the disposition o the tribal council case. in Kohat air base. Khan was traveling with a local ocial and a tribal Khan’s relatives were told by hospital workers that chie who had taken a role in the case, according to he had ve or six bullet wounds and that one hand had news reports. Their car was third in a convoy returning been manacled in handcufs typically used by Pakistan’s rom the area, reports said, suggesting it might have Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Mahmud Ali been targeted. Durrani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, dis- missed the reported presence o the handcufs as circum- Javed Khan, Markaz and DM Digital TV stantial and said the cufs could have been planted to July 3, 2007, in Islamabad incriminate the government. No autopsy was perormed. han, a photographer or the Islamabad-based daily An investigation led by High Court Justice Moham- K Markaz and a cameraman or U.K.-based DM Digital med Reza Khan was conducted, but the results were not TV, was shot in the chest and neck while caught in made public. Hayatullah Khan’s amily said they were crossre between government orces and the students not interviewed by the judge or other investigators. o Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, according to North West Frontier Gov. Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai media reports. Four other journalists were wounded in told CPJ that North Waziristan was not secure enough the clashes. to risk exposing a judicial gure to kidnapping or death. News reports said gunre had come rom both sides CPJ has repeatedly sought the release o the report, in the standof. The source o the atal shots was not making a direct request to President Asi Ali Zardari in immediately clear. Pakistani security orces had sur- 2011. The report remained a secret as o February 2013. rounded the mosque in an efort to end a months-long In November 2007, Khan’s widow was killed in a standof. The mosque, seen as pro-Taliban, had been the bomb that was detonated outside her home. center o eforts to remove what leaders saw as undesir- able activity such as massage parlors and music shops. Mehboob Khan, freelance April 28, 2007, in Charsadda Muhammad Ari, ARY Television han, a photographer, was killed in a suicide bomb October 19, 2007, in Karachi K attack aimed at Interior Minister Atab Sherpao. The ri was among more than 130 people killed in minister escaped with minor injuries, but 28 people died Aa bombing during a rally held to celebrate the in the attack at a political rally in North West Frontier homecoming o ormer Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Province, which is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The cameraman, who was on assignment, was sur- Three other journalists were injured in the attack. vived by his wie and six children. Bhutto was assassi- Khan, a 22-year-old who had recently begun his nated two months later at a rally in Rawalpindi. journalism career, had contributed photos to local and national publications. He was believed to be working Zubair Ahmed Mujahid, Jang at the time. Follow-up reports said the bomber was be- November 23, 2007, in Mirpur Khas lieved to have been a teenage male, and that security ujahid, correspondent or the national Urdu- at the event was lax. Mlanguage daily Jang, was shot while traveling on a motorcycle with another journalist in the southern Noor Hakim Khan, Daily Pakistan province o Sindh, according to local news reports. He June 2, 2007, in Bajaur was targeted by unidentied gunmen also traveling by han, a correspondent or the Daily Pakistan and a motorcycle. K vice president o the Tribal Union o Journalists, Local journalists believed Mujahid was slain because was one o ve people killed by a roadside bomb in o his investigative reporting, according to Owais the Bajaur region o the North West Frontier Province, Aslam Ali, secretary-general o the local media group now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan Press Foundation. Mujahid was known or his Behroz Khan, the Peshawar-based reporter or The critical writing on issues like mistreatment o the poor News, conrmed news reports that the victim was by local landlords and police in his Jang weekly col-
42 Committee to Protect Journalists umn, “Crime and Punishment.” His coverage o alleged Abdul Aziz Shaheen, Azadi police brutality had led to arrests and suspensions o August 29, 2008, in Swat police ocers, Ali told CPJ. Mujahid was survived by a Pakistani airstrike hit the lockup where Shaheen wie and our sons. No arrests were made. Awas being held by a local Taliban group in the Chishti Mujahid, Akbar-e-Jehan Swat Valley, according to local news reports citing a Taliban spokesman. The spokesman, Muslim Khan, February 9, 2008, in Quetta said Shaheen was among at least 25 people killed in n unidentied assailant shot Mujahid, a veteran the strike, according to the Daily Times newspaper. Acolumnist and photographer, in the head and The precise location o the Taliban hideout was not chest as he let his house, according to the Pakistan reported. Federal Union o Journalists and local news reports. A Militants abducted Shaheen, who worked or the spokesman or the banned insurgent group the Baluch local Urdu-language daily Azadi and sometimes led Liberation Army claimed responsibility or the murder or other papers, on August 27, 2008, according to in a phone call to the Quetta Press Club, saying Mujahid local news reports. Owais Aslam Ali, secretary-general was “against” the Baluch cause, local news reports said. o the Pakistan Press Foundation, told CPJ that local Mujahid, an ethnic Punjabi, received several tele- journalists believed the Taliban abducted the journalist phone threats ater writing about the killing o Baluch because o his work. leader Balach Marri in November 2007, according to Shaheen’s car was set on re a week beore he was the journalists union. Akbar-e-Jehan, published by the abducted, although it was not clear whether the Jang Media Group, was among the country’s largest Taliban were responsible or that attack, the group Urdu-language weekly magazines. reported. It said the journalist was kidnapped rom the Peuchar area o the Matta Tehsil subdivision o Swat. Siraj Uddin, The Nation February 29, 2008, in Mingora Abdul Razzak Johra, Royal TV November 3, 2008, in Punjab ddin died in a suicide bombing that took the lives Uo more than 40 people, according to Pakistani ix armed men dragged reporter Johra rom his news reports. No organization claimed responsibility Shome in the Mianwali district o Punjab and shot or the attack, which occurred at the uneral o a slain him, according to the Pakistan Federal Union o Jour- police ocer and wounded about 80 people, includ- nalists. The attack came a day ater his report on local ing two other journalists. drug tracking was aired nationally. The Swat Valley was a ocal point o conict at the Colleagues said Johra, 45, who had done earlier time. Militants had taken over much o the area in reports on the drug trade, had received threats telling 2007, and government orces were reasserting some him to stop covering the issue. Police took no evident control by early 2008. steps to investigate the murder, according to local journalists. Mohammed Ibrahim, Express TV and Daily Express Mohammad Imran, Express TV May 22, 2008, in Khar Tahir Awan, freelance January 4, 2009, in Dera Ismail Khan brahim, a reporter or Express TV, was gunned down Iby unidentied men outside Khar, the main town suicide bomber killed Imran, a cameraman trainee o the Bajaur tribal area, according to news reports. Aor Express TV, and Tahir Awan, a reelance report- The journalist was returning by motorcycle rom an er or the local Eitedal and Apna Akhbar newspapers, interview with local Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar, in North West Frontier Province, now known as Khyber according to the Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists Pakhtunkhwa, according to the Pakistan Federal Union and Imtiaz Ali, a Washington Post correspondent based o Journalists and local news reports. in the nearby regional capital o Peshawar. The atal explosion occurred in the wake o a smaller The assailants took the ootage o Ibrahim’s inter- blast and apparently was intended to target the early view with the Taliban spokesman, said Ali, citing inor- responders to the scene, the reports said. At least ve mation rom local journalists. Ali said that Ibrahim also other people were killed and several more injured, in- worked or the Urdu-language Daily Express. No arrests cluding police and civilians, in the early evening attack, or claims o responsibility were made. according to the news reports.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 43 Journalists Killed 2003-12
Musa Khankhel, Geo TV and The News Aghan News agency, and other news outlets, the re- February 18, 2009, in Swat ports said. No one claimed responsibility or the killing, according to news reports. o one claimed responsibility or the killing o Hashimzada was known as a critic o the Taliban Khankhel, who died in the rst violation o a truce N insurgency in Aghanistan, and his reports had chal- called two days earlier between the government and lenged the authorities and intelligence agencies in local militant groups, according to local and inter- both Pakistan and Aghanistan, the reports said. “He national news reports. Khankhel was targeted while received threats our weeks ago to leave Peshawar and covering a peace march led by Muslim cleric Su Mu- not report Taliban and Al-Qaeda activity in Pakistan. hammad, ather-in-law o local Taliban leader Maulana It is clear … he lost his lie or reporting,” Danish Fazlullah, the reports said. Muhammad was seeking to Karokhel, director o Pajhwok Aghan News agency, recruit his son-in-law to join a cease-re agreement he told CPJ. had negotiated with the government. Daud Khattak, a local journalist who later joined Geo Managing Director Azhar Abbas told CPJ that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, said Khankhel had become separated rom the rest o his Hashimzada had recently interviewed a Taliban our-person reporting team in a militant-controlled spokesman in the Hyatabad area o Peshawar. The area near the town o Matta. He sufered multiple story was potentially embarrassing to the military be- gunshot wounds to the torso and back o the head, cause it showed that a prominent Taliban ocial was Abbas said. A BBC report citing Khankhel’s brother said living openly in a main city. the journalist had been abducted at gunpoint rom the peace march, and that his hands and eet were bound Malik Ari, Samaa TV when his body was discovered. April 16, 2010, in Quetta Khankhel had told supervisors that the army was retaliating against him or his aggressive coverage o ri, a cameraman, was killed in a suicide bombing the military ofensive in Swat. He said he was being Aat a local hospital, news reports said. The blast oc- threatened, denied access, and barred rom news curred outside the emergency ward o Civil Hospital in conerences. Hamid Mir, his supervisor at the time, told Quetta, capital o restive Baluchistan province, killing CPJ that Khankhel called him on the day o the murder at least eight people and injuring numerous others, to say that he eared or his lie and believed the Inter- including ve journalists. The journalists were cover- Services Intelligence Directorate intended to kill him. ing a Shia demonstration outside the hospital, where Mir said Khankel was killed just hours later. a prominent local Shia bank manager had been taken ater an attack. Janullah Hashimzada, freelance August 24, 2009, in Jamrud Azamat Ali Bangash, Samaa TV April 17, 2010, in Orakzai our unidentied gunmen red on the Aghan jour- Fnalist and his colleague, Ali Khan, while they were angash, 34, a cameraman and correspondent, was traveling on a public minibus near the town o Jamrud, Bkilled in a suicide bombing while covering ood Khyber Agency, northwestern Pakistan, according to distribution in a reugee camp near Orakzai, in the Fed- local and international news reports. erally Administered Tribal Areas near the border with A white sedan carrying the gunmen intercepted Aghanistan. He was the second Samaa journalist killed the bus with Hashimzada and Khan as it was en route in a suicide bombing in two days. to Peshawar rom the Aghan border town o Tork- As many as 47 reugees rom ghting in northwest ham, according to The Associated Press. The gunmen Pakistan died when a pair o suicide bombers, strik- targeted the journalists, killing Hashimzada and ing minutes apart, attacked a distribution line, news severely injuring Khan, according to AP. No other in- reports said. The BBC and CNN said the Sunni group juries were reported. The type o vehicle used by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility or the explo- gunmen is standard issue or Pakistan’s intelligence sions, which targeted the Shia reugees. The bombing agency. was one o ve in northwest Pakistan that took place Both journalists worked or Aghanistan’s Shamshad between April 14 and April 17, 2010. TV. Hashimzada, the station’s Peshawar-based bureau Bangash, who died at a nearby eld hospital, was chie or Pakistan, also reported or AP, the Pajhwok survived by a wie and three children.
44 Committee to Protect Journalists Ghulam Rasool Birhamani, Daily Sindhu Ejaz Raisani, Samaa TV Hyderabad September 6, 2010, in Quetta May 9 or 10, 2010, in Wahi Pandhi aisani, a cameraman, died in a military hospital he body o Birhamani, 40, a reporter or the Daily Ro gunshot wounds he sufered three days earlier TSindhu Hyderabad , was ound outside his home- while covering a rally that turned violent in Quetta, ac- town o Wahi Pandhi, Sindh province, on May 10, a cording to local and international news reports. day ater he was reported kidnapped. The Pakistan A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Shia Federal Union o Journalists and the media support demonstration, prompting gunre and other violence group Pakistan Press Foundation reported that his that killed more than 70 people and let 200 others in- body was badly scarred and showed evidence o jured, including several other journalists, news reports torture. said. The Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi each claimed Birhamani’s amily believed he was killed because responsibility or the bombing, one in a series o recent o his reporting on ethnic issues in Sindh province, assaults on Shia gatherings, local news reports said. the journalists union said. A colleague told the news- Some news reports linked the violence that ollowed paper Dawn that Birhamani’s story on the marriage the Quetta bombing to the surviving protesters. o a 12-year-old girl to a 22-year-old man might have Mohammad Sarwar, a driver working or Aaj TV, was been the specic trigger or the attack. Birhamani had also killed in the violence. Six journalists were among received threats rom members o the Lashari tribe the wounded. Raisani was married with two children. just days beore he was seized, the press oundation Police took 20 suspects into custody and Baluchistan said. Chie Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani ormed a judicial Hundreds o journalists turned out or a march to tribunal to investigate the attack, The Express Tribune protest his killing. Dawn quoted some o the dem- reported. As o February 2013, no suspect had been onstrators as saying that police were reluctant to inves- convicted o a crime, according to Zahid Hussain, tigate because o political sensitivities. The journalists director o news at Samaa TV. union said Birhamani had worked or many years or various Sindhi-language dailies. He let behind a wie, Misri Khan, Ausaf and Mashriq two sons, and a daughter. September 14, 2010, in Hangu han, a newspaper reporter and head o the local Ejazul Haq, City-42 TV journalists association, was shot several times as May 28, 2010, in Lahore K he entered the press club building in Hangu, near the aq, 42, a technician or the local Lahore cable border with Aghanistan, according to news reports Hstation City-42 TV, was killed while working at and the Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists. Shahid the scene o an armed attack on a Muslim minority Sabir, news editor or the Urdu-language daily Ausa, Ahmadi mosque, according to news accounts and CPJ said two or more assailants had apparently been lying interviews. in wait. Haq was reporting live via cellphone rom the Khan was a reporter or Ausa , as well as Mashriq, an scene, which was in his neighborhood. Colleagues Urdu-language daily published in Peshawar, provincial at City-42 TV said the shots that struck him could be capital o Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Khan was also presi- heard on the air. It was not clear who red the atal dent o the Hangu Union o Journalists. shots during the ghting, in which Sunni Muslim The English-language daily Dawn reported that gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the mosque Khan had received threats rom militant organizations. while police and military groups engaged them in Khan had been a journalist or more than 20 years, close re. reporting or several newspapers during his career, Pakistani media reports said Haq was survived by according to the Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists. a wie, a daughter, and a son. An eight-year veteran He was survived by a wie, six sons, and ve daughters. o the proession, he had worked or City-42 or the Abdul Wahab, Express News previous three years, according to the Pakistan Federal Pervez Khan, Waqt TV Union o Journalists. December 6, 2010, in Ghalanai The mosque was one o two Ahmadi mosques that came under attack that day. More than 90 people were ahab and Khan were among 50 people killed in killed in the sieges, which lasted or several hours. The Wa double-suicide bomb attack in the Mohmand events were covered live by many o Pakistan’s news tribal district, according to international news reports. channels. The journalists were covering a meeting o tribal
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 45 Journalists Killed 2003-12 leaders and government ocials in Ghalanai, the Nasrullah Khan Aridi, Pakistan Television administrative center o the region, when two suicide and Mashriq bombers wearing police uniorms detonated ex- May 10, 2011, in Peshawar plosives. News reports said the meeting was called ridi, a reporter or Pakistan Television and the to discuss the ormation o an anti-Taliban militia. local Mashriq newspaper, was killed when his car Agence France-Presse said a Pakistani Taliban group A blew up in the city o Peshawar, according to local took credit or the attack, which injured more than and international news reports. An explosive device 100 people. was detonated remotely shortly ater he returned to The journalists worked as both cameramen and the vehicle, which was parked in a densely populated reporters. shopping area, news reports said. Wali Khan Babar, Geo TV The Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists said Aridi, January 13, 2011, in Karachi who was also the president o the Tribal Union o Jour- nalists, had moved to Peshawar to ee militant groups. abar, 28, was shot shortly ater his story on gang vi- In May 2006, CPJ reported, unidentied assailants olence aired on the country’s most widely watched B had lobbed two hand grenades at Aridi’s house in broadcaster, Geo TV. At least two assailants intercepted Bara, the main town o Khyber Agency in the Federally the journalist’s car at 9:20 p.m. in Karachi’s Liaquatabad Administered Tribal Areas. Aridi had been the target area, shooting him our times in the head and once in o a death threat issued on a pirate radio station run the neck, Geo TV Managing Director Azhar Abbas told by the Islamic militant organization Lashkar-e-Islam. CPJ. Witnesses said one assailant spoke to Babar briey The threat came ater Aridi reported that the authori- beore opening re, Abbas said. ties suspected Lashkar-e-Islam o being responsible In April, police announced the arrests o ve people or an attack in which a paramilitary soldier was and said additional suspects were at large. In all, police injured. said, at least 17 men were involved in the murder plot. The journalist moved to Islamabad ater the attack Police, based on statements given by the suspects, but said ocials there would not heed his complaints described a plot organized by the Muttahida Qaumi o being under threat. He then moved to the wealthy Movement, or MQM, Pakistan’s third-largest political Hayatabad area o Peshawar. But in mid-2007, gre- party and considered its most infuential secular politi- nades were lobbed at his home there. No one was cal organization. A Joint Investigation Team report injured in that attack. said the killing had been ordered by Agha Murtaza, Aridi was a popular, senior gure in the tightly knit a South Arica-based MQM operative. Zulkar Mirza, journalist community in the dangerous areas along home minister o Sindh, was outspoken at the time in the Aghan border. Hundreds o people, including saying that MQM operatives were responsible or the colleagues, political leaders, and tribal elders, attended killing. his memorial service. No arrests were made in the case. Local journalists believe the killing was prompted by Babar’s aggressive reporting on violent political tur Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online wars, extortion, targeted killings, electricity thet, and May 29 or 30, 2011, in Mandi Bahauddin land-grabbing. Just weeks ater Babar was slain, several people hahzad, 40, vanished on May 29 ater writing about connected to the investigation were murdered. They Salleged links between Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani included a police inormant, two police constables, Navy. His body was ound on May 31 in a canal near and the brother o an investigating ocer. One o the the town o Mandi Bahauddin, about 75 miles (120 constables, Asi Raq, was on the scene when Babar kilometers) south o the capital, Islamabad. His riends was murdered and had identied the plotters’ vehicle. said the body showed signs o torture around the ace On November 10, 2012, two gunmen aboard a motor- and neck. He had told colleagues that he had been cycle killed Haidar Ali, the only remaining witness in receiving threats rom intelligence ocials in recent the case, near his home in the Soldier Bazaar area o months. Karachi. He was due to testiy in court two days later. Shahzad was reported missing ater he ailed to The original prosecutors in the case—Muhammad show up or a televised panel discussion in Islam- Khan Buriro and Mobashir Mirza—told CPJ that they abad. He was scheduled to discuss his recent article were threatened and eventually red. They ed the or Asia Times Online in which he reported that Al- country in late 2011. Qaeda, having inltrated the Pakistani Navy, was be-
46 Committee to Protect Journalists hind a 17-hour siege at a naval base in Karachi on May Faisal Qureshi, London Post 22. He said the attack came ater military or security October 7, 2011, in Lahore ocials reused to release a group o naval ocials he body o Qureshi, 31, an editor or the political suspected o being linked to militant groups. The news website The London Post , was discovered about attack, coming soon ater the U.S. killing o Osama T 2 a.m. by his brother Zahid ater amily members ound bin Laden on May 2, was deeply embarrassing to the blood stains outside the journalist’s house, the Pakistani Pakistani military. Earlier in May, three navy buses daily The Express Tribune reported. Police reports said carrying recruits were blown up via remote control Qureshi’s throat had been cut and described his body as devices in Karachi, the large port city where the navy showing signs o torture, The Express Tribune said. has its headquarters. Another brother, Shahid, who lives in London, told Shahzad’s death also came a ew days ater the re- CPJ that the killers had taken the journalist’s laptop lease o his book, Inside the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. and telephone. Shahid Qureshi, who also wrote or The For months, the journalist had been telling riends London Post website, told CPJ that he and his brother that he had been warned by intelligence agents to had received death threats rom men who claimed they stop reporting on sensitive security matters. In Octo- were rom the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM. ber 2010, Shahzad told Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher The London Post , which was widely recognized as anti- or Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, that he had been MQM, had run a series o critical stories on the party’s threatened by a top ocial at a meeting at the head- exiled leader, Alta Hussain. quarters o the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate in Police arrested Faisal Hameed, a childhood riend o Rawalpindi. Qureshi, in December 2011, alleging monetary motives, Hasan said Shahzad sent him a note describing the according to local news reports. As o February 2013, meeting “in case something happens to me or my Hameed remained in custody pending trial. An inves- amily in the uture,” Human Rights Watch reported. tigative documentary produced by Samaa TV raised Hameed Haroon, president o the All Pakistan Newspa- numerous questions about the police investigation and pers Society and a ormer employer o Shahzad, said cast doubt on the allegations against Hameed. he had received a similar message at about the same time. Javed Naseer Rind,Daily Tawar In July 2011, The New York Times reported that U.S. November 2011, in Khuzdar ocials had reliable intelligence that showed that the ISI was responsible or Shahzad’s murder. Pakistan’s o- ind’s body was ound in Khuzdar on November 5, cial commission o inquiry concluded in January 2012 Rnearly two months ater he was abducted, according that the perpetrators were unknown, a nding that was to news reports. The journalist had been shot multiple widely criticized as lacking credibility. times in the head and chest, and his body showed numer- ous signs o torture, local news media reported. The killing Asandyar Khan, Akhbar-e-Khyber appeared to have occurred shortly beore the discovery. June 11, 2011, in Peshawar An editor and columnist with the Urdu-language Shafullah Khan, The News daily Daily Tawar , Rind was kidnapped in his hometown June 17, 2011, in Wah Cantonment o Hub in southern Baluchistan province on September sandyar Khan, a reporter or the newspaper 11. The Daily Tawar was known or its coverage o the A Akhbar-e-Khyber , died in a double bombing that many conicts between rival groups and the govern- took the lives o more than three dozen people. Sha- ment. Rind was also an active member o the separatist ullah Khan, a trainee reporter at the daily The News, Baluch National Movement, news reports said. died six days later rom extensive burns and shrapnel The Baluchistan Union o Journalists condemned Rind’s wounds sufered in the attack. Seven other journalists kidnapping and murder and demanded that the govern- were injured. ment put together a high-level committee to investigate The rst, small blast went of at a market, drawing the attack. No group claimed responsibility or the killing. a large crowd that included journalists covering the Mukarram Khan Aati, Deewa Radio story, according to news reports and local journalists. January 17, 2012, in Shabqadar A second, larger explosion, apparently a suicide bomb, went of ater the crowd had grown. wo gunmen killed Aati, a reporter or the Pashto-lan- The attack took place near the city center, in an area Tguage service o the U.S. government-unded Voice o where military acilities are concentrated and where America, at a mosque in Shabqadar, north o Peshawar. many major Pakistani media organizations have their The assailants, who struck during evening prayers, shot oces. No group immediately claimed responsibility Aati multiple times beore eeing on motorcycles, police or the bombings, and it was not clear i journalists or told reporters. Aati died o his injuries at Lady Reading military personnel were the targets. Hospital in Peshawar. An imam was injured in the attack.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 47 Journalists Killed 2003-12
Taliban spokesmen spoke to several news outlets, Abdul Qadir Hajizai, WASH TV taking responsibility or the killing. Ihsanullah Ihsan May 28, 2012, in Quetta told The Associated Press that Aati had been warned rmed men shot Hajizai, a headmaster o a middle “a number o times to stop anti-Taliban reporting, but school who also worked at WASH TV, a private he didn’t do so. He nally met his ate.” A Baluchi-language TV channel, according to local news Several CPJ sources said they were skeptical Aati reports. The journalist was taken to a hospital, where had been killed on the orders o the Taliban or or the he died, the reports said. publicly stated reasons. Aati told riends and rela- Hajizai was killed in the Basima area o Washik dis- tives that he started receiving threats rom military trict, home o the Shamsi Air Field, which was used by and intelligence ocials immediately ater covering a the United States as a base or surveillance and drone November 2011 attack by U.S.-led NATO orces on Paki- operations against militants in Pakistan’s Federally stani army check posts at Salala, near the border with Administered Tribal Areas. Aghanistan. Twenty-our Pakistani soldiers died in the Two days ater Hajizai’s death, the Baluch Liberation attack. Aati led reports on the attack or Deewa Ra- Front, an armed separatist group, claimed responsibili- dio and took part in what are called two-ways, which ty or his killing and called him a government inormer. are live exchanges with the station’s studio journalists. The journalist’s colleagues said they were unaware o Aati had spoken to local residents who said a any threats made against him. Taliban hideout was just two kilometers rom the army The Baluchistan Union o Journalists issued a check posts, a tribal area journalist told CPJ. The Tali- statement protesting the killing and appealed to the ban’s proximity to the army posts was highly sensitive Supreme Court and the Baluchistan High Court to ad- inormation because it could have provided justica- dress the rising level o threats to journalists. tion or the American attack. An ocial with the U.S. National Security Council told CPJ that a Special Forces team launched the attack ater taking re rom the Abdul Haq Baloch, ARY Television area o the Pakistani check posts. September 29, 2012, in Khuzdar Deewa Radio said Aati’s reports explained the nidentied assailants shot Haq as he was leaving geography o the area but did not mention the Taliban. Uthe Khuzdar Press Club in the city o Khuzdar in Deewa did not respond to CPJ’s repeated queries seek- Baluchistan province. Haq was the secretary-general o ing inormation on what was said by the station’s studio the press club and a longtime local correspondent or journalists during their live two-way exchanges with ARY Television. Aati. Deewa said no archive o Aati’s reports was avail- ARY Television said it was not aware o any threats able. Multiple CPJ sources in Pakistan and the United directed at Haq. But Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani States said the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate journalist, wrote ater Haq’s death that the journal- was believed to be behind the murder. A Pakistani se- ist had been threatened by the Baluch Musalah Difa curity ocial said the speculation was unsubstantiated. Army (BMDA, or the Armed Baluch Deense) in Novem- ber 2011 and had subsequently been named on a hit Razzaq Gul, Express News TV list issued by a BMDA spokesman. May 19, 2012, in Turbat Tensions with the press had escalated ater the Balu- ul, 35, a senior reporter with Express News TV in chistan High Court barred news coverage o banned G Turbat, a city in the Kech district o Baluchistan, groups in October 2011. Several o the banned groups was abducted near his home on the evening o May 18, began threatening local journalists or not reporting according to news reports. His body was ound the next on their militant operations. day with several bullet wounds and marks that indicat- Haq’s amily declined to discuss widespread asser- ed he had been tortured, his amily told local journalists. tions by his colleagues that he had been killed because Gul was a member o the Baluch National Move- security orces were angry that he was working with ment, a nationalist political organization, and was the amilies o missing Baluchis on presenting cases the secretary o the Press Club o Turbat, according to beore the Quetta bench o the Supreme Court o Paki- news reports. His colleagues at the club told Express stan. At the time o Haq’s death, the court was hearing News TV that Gul had not mentioned receiving any more than 100 missing-person cases in Baluchistan. O threats. No group claimed responsibility or his death. those cases, 19 were rom Khuzdar.
48 Committee to Protect Journalists Mushtaq Khand, Dharti Television Network that Eesa Tareen, president o the Baluchistan Union o and Mehran Journalists, said Abid’s amily was unaware o any per- October 7, 2012, in Khairpur sonal enmities that would have caused his death. Aslam Raisani, chie minister o Baluchistan, issued hand, 35, was among six people killed when gun- a statement saying that “hidden hands” were attack- men opened re on a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) K ing Baluchi journalists to stop them rom working, rally in Khairpur in Sindh province. A 10-year veteran according to news reports. Abid’s colleagues at the PPF journalist, Khand was a reporter or Dharti Television said that they believed Abid had been killed because Network and had been the president o the Khairpur o his reporting. The Baluchistan Union o Journalists Press Club or ve years. He had also worked or the appealed to the local and ederal governments to ad- Sindhi newspaper Mehran in Hyderabad. dress the rising levels o threats to Pakistani journalists. Police conducted overnight raids ater the shooting and arrested 10 unidentied suspects, news reports Saqib Khan, Ummat said. News accounts reported diferent motives or the November 22, 2012, in Karachi shooting. Investigators rst blamed a amily eud or han, a photographer or the Urdu-language paper the attack; Geo TV reported the gunre erupted ater Ummat , died rom injuries he sustained in a bomb an argument between two rival groups at the rally. K explosion that occurred 30 minutes ater another blast Khand was survived by two wives and several outside a Shia site in Karachi, according to the Inter- children. Ater his uneral in his home village near national Federation o Journalists and the Pakistan Khairpur, his colleagues and riends demonstrated in Federal Union o Journalists. Khan was killed while ront o the Khairpur Press Club, protesting against the covering the rst explosion, the same sources said. government or ailing to protect its citizens. Police said the rst blast was a suicide attack, while Rehmatullah Abid, Dunya News and the second bomb was detonated with a remote-con- Intikhaab trolled device. The second bomb exploded about 50 eet rom the rst one, wounding reporters, police ocers, November 18, 2012, in Panjgur and bomb disposal teams who had arrived at the scene. nidentied gunmen on a motorcycle killed Abid in The bombs exploded at a site requently used or Ua barber shop in Panjgur district, about 375 miles Shia commemoration ceremonies; Shias were celebrat- (600 kilometers) rom Quetta. Abid had worked as a ing the holy month o Muharram, the rst month o general assignment reporter or the Urdu-language the Islamic calendar. Dunya News, a news and current afairs TV channel, No group claimed responsibility or the twin bomb- or several years and had also worked or the Urdu- ings, but two days ater the explosions, Taliban spokes- language daily Intikhaab. man Ihsanullah Ihsan called Agence France-Presse and According to the Pakistan Press Foundation, Abid was said the Taliban had dispatched more than 20 suicide shot six times, once in the head. The PPF also reported bombers to target Shia Muslims. Journalists Killed 2003-2012 Motive Unconfrmed
Here are capsule reports on journalists who were killed in unclear circumstances. When a motive is unclear, but it is possible that a journalist was killed because o his or her work, CPJ classifes the case as “unconfrmed” and continues to investigate. CPJ regularly reclassifes cases based on its ongoing research.
Mohammad Ismail, Pakistan Press International leaving his house to take a walk. Doctors who received November 1, 2006, in Islamabad the body when it was taken to a local hospital told the smail, Islamabad bureau chie or Pakistan Press journalists union that Ismail had been dead or a ew IInternational, was ound near his home in Islamabad hours beore being discovered. with his head “smashed with some hard blunt object,” Ismail’s amily told Abbas that they were at a loss according to Mazhar Abbas, then secretary-general o as to what could have prompted the attack. They told the Pakistan Federal Union o Journalists. The Associ- him Ismail, who was nearing retirement, was carrying ated Press reported that a police investigator said an little o value when he was assaulted. Ismail’s news iron bar might have been used as a weapon. agency was not known or particularly critical report- Ismail was last seen the previous night as he was ing o the government, CPJ research shows.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 49 Journalists Killed 2003-12
Khadim Hussain Sheikh, Sindh TV and Khabrein in Khuzdar district in the southwestern province o April 14, 2008, in Hub Baluchistan on April 11, according to Qureshi’s editor and local news reports. heikh, a stringer or Sindh TV and local bureau chie Qureshi was treated in a local hospital or two gunshot or the national Urdu-language daily Khabrein, was S wounds to the stomach, but died ve days later, news killed by unidentied gunmen as he let his home by mo- reports said. Mosiani survived, according to the reports. torbike in the town o Hub, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) The motive or the attack was not immediately clear, north o Karachi, according to the Pakistan Federal Union according to Asi Baloch, the editor o the Quetta- o Journalists and the ocial Associated Press o Pakistan. based Daily Azadi. Local ocials said they were inves- Mazhar Abbas, then the secretary-general o the tigating but had made no progress, he said. Although journalists union, told CPJ he had spoken by telephone some news reports said militants rom the separatist with Sheikh’s brother, Ishaq, who was riding on the Baluchistan Liberation Army carried out the shooting, same motorbike at the time o the attack and had Baloch said they had not claimed responsibility and been hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Ishaq said had no known reason to attack the journalist. three men on motorbikes carried out the shooting, then checked to make sure the journalist was dead Siddique Bacha Khan, Aaj TV beore eeing, according to Abbas. The brother said he August 14, 2009, in Mardan was unaware o any dispute that might have led to the murder, Abbas said. nidentied gunmen ambushed correspondent UBacha Khan in the city o Mardan in North West Raja Assad Hameed, The Nation and Waqt TV Frontier Province, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, March 26, 2009, in Rawalpindi Aaj reported on its website. He was shot at close range as he was returning nidentied gunmen killed Hameed, a reporter to station oces ater an interview with the amily Uwith the English-language daily The Nation and its members o a ormer military ocial killed by the Urdu-language television channel, Waqt, while he was Taliban, the channel’s bureau chie, Imtiaz Awan, said parking his car at his house. on the station’s website. The journalist died en route to Media accounts o the attack varied. Beena Sarwar, the hospital, according to Aaj and the Pakistan Federal a media and human rights activist, looked closely into Union o Journalists. the murder and described what she ound to CPJ: “His amily rushed out on hearing the gunshots and ound Lala Hameed Baloch, Daily Intikhab Hameed lying in a pool o blood. The bullets, red November 18, 2010, in an area outside Turbat at close range, had pierced his neck and shoulder.” ameed’s gunshot-riddled body was ound outside Doctors pronounced the journalist dead on arrival at Turbat, a city in western Baluchistan province, Benazir Bhutto Hospital. H ater he disappeared on October 25 while traveling to Hameed was well-known and held in high regard. his home in Gwader, according to the Gwader Press He was uent in English, Urdu, and Punjabi, and Club. Local journalists believed he had been seized by requently appeared on Al-Jazeera, analyzing political Pakistani security ocials, according to Mazhar Abbas, developments in Pakistan. ormer secretary-general o the Pakistan Federal Union The day ater the attack, Inormation Minister Qamar- o Journalists. uz-Zaman Kaira told the ocial Associated Press o Hameed reported or the Urdu-languageDaily Intikhab Pakistan that “sick-minded criminals must have com- and worked as a stringer or several other news outlets, mitted the murder o a journalist in Rawalpindi” and he Abbas said. He was an active supporter o the Baluch Na- promised “to leave no stone unturned in investigating tional Movement, a political organization that advocates the heinous crime.” Rawalpindi police later suspended or an autonomous Baluchistan, according to Baluch their investigation without resolution, news reports said. nationalist websites and local news reports. Both his Wasi Ahmad Qureshi, Daily Azadi and reporting and his political activities were considered pos- Balochistan Express sible motives or his murder, according to Owais Aslam Ali, secretary-general o the Pakistan Press Foundation. April 16, 2009, in Khuzdar The body o another man, Hamid Ismail, was discov- unmen opened re on Qureshi and his colleague, ered with Baloch, according to local news reports. Four GMuhammad Siddiq Mosiani, near a newsstand other bodies were ound across Baluchistan during Eid
50 Committee to Protect Journalists Al-Adha, according to the Lahore-based Daily Times Zaman Ibrahim, Daily Extra News newspaper. Relatives alleged that government ocials April 2, 2011, in Karachi had targeted the victims or their political activism. brahim was riding his motorcycle when two motor- Mehmood Chandio, Awaz Icyclists shot him in the head, according to Pakistani news reports. The journalist had worked or several December 5, 2010, in Mirpurkhas small Urdu-language papers. He also was involved with handio, bureau chie or the Sindhi-language a local group called the People’s Aman Committee, the Ctelevision station Awaz and president o the local militant counterpoint o the Pakistan People’s Party to press club, was killed by assailants outside his house the armed militias o the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Mirpurkhas, Sindh province, according to news and Awami National Party. The groups are known or reports. Gunmen shot Chandio at least twice when he their violent tactics. answered their knock at his door, according to Mazhar Ibrahim, 40, had two children. Although he had Abbas, ormer head o the Pakistan Federal Union o worked or several diferent newspapers or several Journalists. Chandio, 45, died ater being transported years, his most recent job was at the Daily Extra News. to a local hospital. Police told reporters investigating the shooting that they The motive was not immediately clear. The media believed he was killed over an internal party dispute. support group Rural Media Network Pakistan said Chan- dio had received threats related to amily and business Muneer Shakir, Online News Network , Sabzbaat TV matters. He was also a ormer member o Jeay Sindh August 14, 2011, in Khuzdar Qaumi Mahaz, a political party seeking independence hakir, who wrote or the Online News Network and or the province. He was survived by his wie, mother, was a correspondent or the Baluch television sta- and six children, according to local media reports. S tion Sabzbaat, was shot repeatedly by two men on a Ilyas Nizzar, Darwanth motorcycle shortly ater midday as he headed home rom the press club in Khuzdar, the district capital in January 3, 2011, in Pidarak the center o Baluchistan, according to the Human izzar’s body was ound with multiple gunshot Rights Commission o Pakistan. Nwounds along a dirt road in Pidarak, Baluchistan Shakir’s colleagues in the Baluchistan Union o Jour- province, six days ater he was reported missing, nalists said the 30-year-old reporter had been working local news reports said. on and of as a journalist or about eight years, and they Alongside Nizzar’s body was that o Qambar Chakar, did not know o any threats directed at him. Representa- a Baluch Students Organization leader who disap- tives o the Pakistan Press Foundation, a media support peared rom his home in Turbat on November 27, group, told CPJ that Shakir had also been an activist with 2010. A general assignment reporter or the newsmag- Baluch separatist organizations and said that was the azine Darwanth, Nizzar was also considered a promi- probable reason he was targeted. nent activist, according to some local news reports. Aurangzeb Tunio, Kawish Television Network Abdost Rind, freelance May 10, 2012, in Lalu Ranwak February 18, 2011, in Turbat group o armed men shot Tunio, a reporter or ind, a 27-year-old part-time reporter or the Daily Athe popular Sindhi news channel Kawish Televi- REagle, an Urdu-language newspaper, was shot our sion Network, in the small oce used as the station’s times beore his assailants escaped on a motorcycle in bureau in Lalu Ranwak village in the province o Sindh, the Turbat area o Baluchistan province. He was pro- about 535 miles (850 kilometers) south o Islamabad, nounced dead at the scene, local news reports said. the capital, news reports said. Tunio’s brother, Rustam, Rind was also an activist in the Baluch separatist and their riend, Deedar Khaskheli, were also killed, the movement, which has sought greater independence reports said. or the vast region and an ultimate break rom Paki- Local journalists told CPJ the gunmen were stani rule. Government military and intelligence opera- members o the Mughairi tribe, a rival to the Tunio tions requently target activists, and many Baluch tribal group. Some also said they believed Tunio was journalists straddle the line between political activism murdered because o his story on a ailed marriage at- and journalism. tempt between two members o the rival clans.
ROOTS OF IMPUNITY 51
Committee to Protect Journalists
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