Pakistan’s Journalists Demand a Fair Deal

Journalists from Pakistan’s print and electronic media rallied nation-wide on Monday under the banner of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), to call attention to the continuing crises of livelihoods, job security and physical safety in their profession.

Protests were held in all the major cities of Pakistan, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Bahawalpur.

The PFUJ condemned the continuing failure of media owners to implement the Seventh Wage Award, despite the lapse of seven years since it was notified. With the tenure of the wage award having expired, the PFUJ is also demanding constitution of the overdue Eighth Wage Board.

Other demands include abolishing the contract system of employment in journalism, the enforcement of labour laws, and amendments to the applicable law to bring it in line with international labour conventions

The PFUJ also demands a high-level inquiry into recent activities of a senior official of the Pakistan Federal Government’s Information Department, for alleged abuse of power.

“The IFJ fully endorses the PFUJ’s demands,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said. “These are challenging times for journalism in Pakistan, with job losses mounting and professional morale taking a severe hit.

“Media organisations need to invest more rather than less in quality journalism, since the public demand for information is mounting in a context of growing internal conflict and economic crisis.”

According to the PFUJ, the protests were joined in virtually all cities by the local press clubs.

The demonstrators were unanimous in demanding that media organisations should retract their arbitrary recent actions and reinstate all journalists who had been unfairly dismissed from employment.

“The IFJ calls upon media organisations to meet their obligations toward the professional community of journalists since, as the PFUJ says, the last few years have been a period of unprecedented profitability for the industry,” White said.

“If a fair deal for journalists remained an unrealised hope through the years of the boom, the current economic downturn makes it an absolute imperative.”

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IFJ Demands Protection of Journalists in Pakistan’s North-West

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), in expressing alarm at the rapid deterioration in conditions for journalists and media workers in Pakistan’s war-torn North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

According to the PFUJ, most journalists and media workers in the Malakand division of NWFP have abandoned their professional work. Five daily newspapers have ceased publishing. Very many print and electronic media personnel have had to leave their offices and homes due to the escalation in fighting between Pakistan’s armed forces and insurgents grouped under the banner of the Taliban.

The five newspapers that have closed - Azadi, Khabarkar, Chand, Salam and Shumal - were all published from Mingora, the headquarters of Swat.

Journalists in Swat have had to contend with indiscriminate firing from unidentified assailants, and damage to their vehicles and property.

Several journalists came under intensive rocket attack in Swat’s Continental Hotel last week. They did not suffer physical harm, but the vehicle of one journalist, Fayaz Zafar, was gutted when it was hit by a rocket.

In Buner in late April, a team of journalists covering the military engagement came under hostile fire, in which a correspondent of a private television channel suffered serious injuries.

“The IFJ calls on all sides to the conflict to recognise the non-combatant status of journalists and appeals to media managers to ensure that personnel assigned to the war-affected area are provided with training in safety procedures and all necessary equipment to protect themselves,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“The IFJ also calls on Pakistan’s Government to recognize its obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1738 (2006), which stresses that national governments must actively protect journalists and media workers reporting in war zones, in accordance with their status as civilians under international law.”

The IFJ joins the PFUJ in expressing great concern at the news blackout from the war zones. The exodus of media personnel is depriving people of Pakistan of fair and unbiased reporting from the region, both on the military operation and the humanitarian situation. The only agency now disseminating information from the area is the Directorate of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which is tasked with presenting only the army’s version of events.

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