Islamabad: Journalists in Pakistan are “under siege”, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday, living with the constant threat of violence from intelligence agencies, armed groups such as the Taliban and even political parties.
The rights group said in a report that the authorities have “almost completely failed” to stem attacks on the media or hold those responsible to account.
Since the restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan in 2008, at least 34 journalists have been killed because of their work, Amnesty said, but the culprits have been brought to justice in only one of those cases.
Amnesty’s report says the journalist death toll is only one part of a broader picture in which reporters have been threatened, abducted or tortured for their work.
“Pakistan’s media community is effectively under siege,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director. “Journalists, in particular those covering national security issues or human rights, are targeted from all sides in a disturbing pattern of abuses carried out to silence their reporting,” he said. Covering almost any sensitive story leaves journalists at risk from one side or another, Amnesty said.
