Freedom of expression

Freedom of expression

Article 19 of the Pakistan constitution  reiterates the freedom of expression and speech in these worlds “Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression and there shall be freedom of press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court {commission of} or incitement to an offence”

The constitutional provision for freedom of expression and media is in consonance with the internationally recognized role of the states to regulate all the entities within its territorial limits in such a way that they contribute to the strengthening of the state, its ideological moorings, national interests and the moral values of the society with a view to promote peace and tranquility in the country. In fact there is no concept of unbridled media freedom in the world. It is universally recognized that freedom comes with responsibility. The media in any state has to exhibit a sense of responsibility while enjoying its freedom.

The media as a fourth pillar of the state and representing the society has to maintain its pluralistic hue wedded to the cause of defending social values, human liberties and freedoms that are indispensable for the socio-economic development besides playing its educative role on issues of crucial national interest. It is rightly said that press and nation rise and fall together. The media is also supposed to promote and defend democracy as its own freedom is reinforced in a democratic set up. Freedom of expression in Pakistan has continued to face challenges in the past year, says a report published by Freedom Network, a Pakistani media watchdog organization.

The report, Press Freedom Barometer 2018, published ahead of Thursday's observance of World Press Freedom Day, documents more than 150 violations against journalists and media groups in the country.

The 16-page report's violations include officially enforced censorship, written or verbal threats, killings, harassment, arrests, abductions, illegal confinements and physical assaults, conducted by state and nonstate actors and political and religious parties.

"At least 157 cases of attacks and violations were documented in Pakistan between May 1, 2017, and April 1, 2018, across all four provinces, Islamabad and tribal areas. That's an average of about 15 cases of violations a month," the report noted.

The executive director of Freedom Network, Iqbal Khattak, told VOA that despite a noticeable decline in overall terrorism in the country, journalism and journalists have remained vulnerable.

"There had been a significant decline in terrorism within the country, and we thought it will have a positive impact on journalism as well. But unfortunately that's not the case, and the situation of press freedom has deteriorated in Pakistan," Khattak told VOA.

The report was compiled after collecting registered data across the country. It marked Islamabad as the "riskiest and most dangerous" city in which to practice journalism in Pakistan, with 35 percent of all cases (55 out of 157) reported in the capital during the past year.

Punjab province ranked second with 17 percent of the cases, Sindh with 16 percent and Baluchistan with 14 percent. Ten percent of the violations were noted in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Additionally, a semiautonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan had 8 percent of the total registered cases.

Five journalists from different cities of Pakistan died in the line of duty, and 20 attacks were registered on media organizations last year. The report indicated TV journalists were more vulnerable than journalists belonging to other media such as print, social media or radio.

FIVE EYE OPENING INCIDENTS HAPPENED IN PAKISTAN IN VIOLATION OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

1:bloggers

SALMAN HAIDER

A poet, left activist and academic of Gender Studies at the Fatimah Jinnah Women’s University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Salman has written, directed and acted in plays performed in Pakistan and abroad with THEATER WALLAY. He was opposing extrajudicial disappearances, killings, sectarian violence and socio-economic injustice. He was writing for the online magazine TANQEED and pens an Urdu language blog. He is famous for his political satire and poetryThe men had aired views critical of the military or militancy on social media.  The government has denied accusations that its secret agencies were involved.. He wrote many famous poems about social problems in Pakistan. He got disappeared on January 6, 2017  hundreds of people held protests across Pakistan to demand that the authorities trace them. He returned home after more than 20 days Mr Haider's brother said he was well, but did not disclose where the blogger had been.

Mr Haider, a well-known poet and university professor, was last seen in Islamabad on 6 January2017, two days after bloggers Waqas Goraya and his cousin Asim Saeed disappeared in Lahore.   Ahmad Waqas Goraya studied anthropology and lived in the Netherlands another social activist Holland based, on the same day on January 4, 2017. Saeed and Goraya were helping to run a Facebook page “MOCHI ” criticizing law enforcement agencies and the slogan is of their Facebook page was

“We respect forces as much as they respect the Constitution of Pakistan”. They criticized the military involvement in national politics and some other issues.

Another blogger, Ahmed Raza Naseer, who has polio, disappeared

 his shop in Skeikhupura near Lahore on same month of january

A fifth activist, Samar Abbas, also disappeared a few days later.

The whereabouts of the other four men are not known, but the AFP news agency on Saturday reported that one of them had been confirmed as safe by a family member. The relative asked AFP not to disclose his name.

Pakistan's government expressed concern and said they were investigating.

Supporters of the men accuse the security services of having secretly arrested them.

During their disappearance, the activists were accused of blasphemy on social media.

NO :2 SOCIAL ACTIVISTS AND THEIR CRITICISM OVER MILITORY

1: Marvi Sarmad

Sirmed, who is a known critic of the military and extremist groups in Pakistan returned home to Islamabad with her family  from vacation, she was shocked to find her house ransacked. She feared a robbery, until she noticed that most of her valuables, like watches and jewelry, were taken out of drawers and strewn around the house, whereas two laptops, a phone, and some of her family’s travel documents were missing.

The alleged “thieves” who had broken into her house had gone through all of her documents, particularly her files on human rights cases and unofficial diplomacy initiatives with India or Afghanistan. The intruders had also listened to, and erased audio from, voice recorders she used for reporting, but left the devices behind.

“What kind of thieves are interested in only data and documents?” she questioned.

Gul Bukhari, another journalist who was active in supporting a rights movement seemingly in the crosshairs of the military, was on her way to her TV station in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, when her car was stopped, and men in civilian clothing took her away. The resulting uproar led to her release a few hours later. She did not identify her assailants, only issuing a brief statement asking that media respect her privacy.

“For the first time in over a decade, @thenews_intl has refused to publish my column,” tweeted Mosharraf Zaidi. “Media is banned from mentioning #PTM. Geo-Jang shut down/ordered not to touch sensitive topics. So my Saturday column couldn’t be published #TheAgeOfFreeControlledMedia,” tweeted another columnist, Babar Sattar.

The management of Pakistan’s oldest English newspaper said its distribution was being disrupted.

“Hawkers and sales agents are being subjected to continued harassment, threats and physical coercion, while attempting to deliver copies of Dawn to our regular subscribers,” said a statement issued by the paper's management last week.

This media group is under attack after the publication of dawn leaks a news story in which many military army journals were found guilty over their stubborn behavior with the government The story reported: “The civilian government informed the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan and sought consensus on several key actions by the state.T he statement issued by the PM Office said, “The published story was clearly violative of universally acknowledged principles of reporting on National Security issues and has risked the vital state interests through inclusion of inaccurate and misleading contents which had no relevance to actual discussion and facts”.

“Prime Minister took serious notice of the violation and directed that those responsible should be identified for stern action,” said the statement.

The Pakistan military’s spokesman has accused some journalists of becoming pawns to anti-state elements.

In a press conference, Major General Asif Ghafoor set up a chart on a projector showing a ring of journalists, activists, and political parties retweeting what he said were anti-state tweets from troll accounts.

“If you see the red line, it is over 10,000 accounts, that show the growth in the accounts that tweet anti-state, anti-army, anti-Pakistan and anti-forces propaganda,” he said.

The pressure on journalists and media houses has intensified to the point that a recent survey by advocacy group Media Matters for Democracy found that 88 percent of Pakistani journalists practice self-censorship. The group said the survey’s findings showed “a grim picture of the contemporary press freedom landscape in the country.”