Roots of Impunity Pakistan’S Endangered Press and the Perilous Web of Militancy, Security, and Politics
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
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.