Balochistan, Pakistan: Cemetery for Journalists

Over the last two decades independent journalism has been difficult in most parts of Pakistan but reporting from Balochistan has been particularly challenging due to multiple threats from various quarters – Baloch nationalists and separatists as well as security and intelligence agencies.

Background

Balochistan, the largest of four provinces with an area of 350,000 sq km makes up 44 percent of the total area of Pakistan, but houses only five percent of the country’s people. Its population of 6.5 million (excluding two million Afghan refugees) is made up of various ethnic groups such as the Baloch, Pashtuns, Brahuis, Hazaras, Sindhis, Punjabis, Uzbeks and Turkmens.

This resource rich but poverty-stricken and under-developed province has been in the throes of a conflict ever since the birth of Pakistan in 1947. A variety of militant groups have been at the forefront of the struggle that has seen brutal suppression by the State. The demands of these groups range from increased autonomy and higher percentage of royalties from natural resources to more substantial allocation in the provincial budget. Some militant groups also demand complete independence in the shape of a separate Balochistan. Separatist groups currently operating in the province are the popular Baloch Liberation Army (BLA); the Bloch Liberation Front (BLF); Bloch Republic Army (BRA); United Bloch Army (UBA); United Bloch Liberation Army (UBLA) and Lashkar-e-Balochistan (LB). Other sectarian groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi also have a significant presence in Balochistan, targeting mainly the minorimaty Shia community.

“There is no journalism in Balochistan. Both the state and non-state actors want to take over the media.” – Shahzada Zulfiqar (Former President, Quetta Press Club)

Media context

A total of 148 national and regional newspapers are published in the province and almost all television news channels have offices in the provincial capital Quetta and correspondents in rest of the Balochistan. These media outlets employ about 1010 journalists across the 32 districts of Balochistan, with 200 of them working in Quetta. There are only 15 working women journalists, five of whom work in Quetta. The press club network in the province is widespread, with more than one press club in each district. The Quetta Press Club has a membership of 130 and almost all journalists in Balochistan (1000) are members of a press club. About 400 journalists are members of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

Abducted, killed, disappeared

The toll of those killed in the line of duty since 2008 is tragic (See Table). The year 2015 has not seen the killing of a media worker, which may be because of the high level of self-censorship now apparent in the region. Harassment and clouds of fear are thick in the province which has witnessed five separatist movements since Independence. With tribal feuds rife, it is often difficult to identify the exact motive or the real perpetrators of killings and abductions when they happen.

A spate of targeted killings started in 2008 when Chishti Mujahid, a reporter associated with the weekly Urdu Akhbar-e-Jehan (‘Newspaper of the World’) was killed by unknown armed assassins in Quetta. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) later claimed responsibility for the murder. Other journalist killings followed, mostly by separatist groups who found their writings “objectionable” and often occurred after militants warned journalists against taking any “pro-Pakistan” stance in their writing or attending Independence Day ceremonies.

Abducting journalists in 2009 and 2010 was rife. Riaz Mengal of the Balochistan Times was abducted after he wrote about the issue of land grabbers in Khuzdar. He managed to escape after three months in captivity. Others, however, were not as fortunate. Illyas Nazar, a reporter for the daily Tawar was kidnapped from Mustong and his bullet-ridden body was recovered on January 3, 2011.

Wali Khan Babar, a reporter of Geo TV, was killed on January 13, 2011 in Karachi. He was a resident of district Zhob in Balochistan. His is the only case in which investigations have been completed and the court has also announced a verdict against the killers. One of his killers, Faisal Mota, was arrested in the recent raid of Rangers at the MQM (Muthahida Qaumi Movement) head office known in Karachi as ‘90’. Importantly, the Wali Khan Babar case was registered only after countrywide pressure was mounted by the PFUJ and local unions who also monitored the progress of the case.

Manzoor Ahmed Bugti, of Pakistan Television, has been missing from Dera Bugti since November 7, 2014. His whereabouts remain unknown.

“Too many journalists have been killed in Balochistan during these past years, and their deaths have not yet been brought to justice” – Mohammad Essa Tareen (Former President of Balochistan Union of Journalists)

Pressing for accountability

Impunity is a continuing issue for journalists in Pakistan, as sometimes the journalists themselves avoid reporting incidents to the police out of fear of reprisal. But on their part, government agencies have also not done their duty of carrying out proper investigations into the murders, attacks, kidnapping and disappearances of journalists. The present provincial government of Dr Abdul Malik has promised to look into matters concerning journalists’ security and safety. His assurance came after a delegation of the PFUJ met him in 2014 with the list of journalists who had been killed and threatened in the line of duty.

Training to stay alive

Balochistan has become a cemetery for journalists who perform their journalistic duties with great honesty and courage. Only a few of them have been re-located to safer locations by their parent organisations; the majority of them continue to report from the frontlines in Balochistan. PFUJ with the assistance of its international partners especially International Federation of Journalists has taken many daring steps to train journalists – many of whom are not even its members – in security and safety.

In 2012, a capacity building training program was held by the PFUJ and its partners for the safety and security of reporters working for various news channels and newspapers in far flung areas of the province. With assistance from the PFUJ and the IFJ and based on the IFJ mission to Balochistan, training programs were delivered to journalists from Quetta, Mastung, Loralai, Khuzdar, Chaman and Turbat on safety, security and ethics.

Media houses have started taking interest in the safety of their journalists, but there is a continued need to engage them and institutionalise professional safety and security. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Media Support (IMS) and PFUJ have produced training material, handbooks and charts in Urdu and English on ethics, safety and safe journalism.

Unfortunately, these handbooks and pamphlets with the code of ethics for safety are often ignored by desk staffers at the office in the headquarters, leading to a lack of priority in establishing mechanism for safety in the field. Impartial and unbiased reporting and editing could save and protect 40 to 50 percent threats to the journalists working in Balochistan and elsewhere in Pakistan.  There is a continued need to provide journalists with a safety net as well as to build professional capacity so as not to invite any threat to their lives from their style of reporting.

Media Workers Killed in Balochistan since 2007

(This is a part of the capsule report from the conflict zones for the South Asia Press Freedom Report 2015 which is available to download in resource section.)

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IFJ Asia-Pacific

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