KARACHI, May 9: The latest annual report by the International Press Institute on the state of press freedom in the world says journalists in Pakistan are “illegitimate targets in conflict and are harassed and killed simply for practising their profession”.

The report, entitled “IPI Report 2002: World Press Freedom Review,” says the murder of Daniel Pearl, reporter of The Wall Street Journal, “shocked the world” and attracted international attention to the increased risks newsmen facing in Pakistan.

Also murdered was a Pakistani journalist, Shahid Soomro, of Kawish. He was shot dead in front of his home on Oct 20, 2002. Shahid had annoyed local influentials by his fearless reporting of the general election.

The report also refers to the case of Shaheen Sehbai, former editor of The News. According to the IPI, the government hounded him for a report that linked a religious party in Pakistan to the attack on the Indian parliament building. The IPI report, however, also gives the government version that Shaheen Sehbai’s ouster as editor was a matter between him and the newspaper owners.

It refers to the murder of a reporter, abduction of many journalists and suspension of several newspapers.

The IPI criticized the four press laws enacted by the government— the Defamation Ordinance, Registration Ordinance, Press Council Ordinance and Freedom of Information Ordinance.

The Defamation Ordinance provides for damages up to Rs50,000 and a three-month jail term; the registration law imposes a system of prior authorization for the media while the third one establishes a press council largely controlled by government nominees.

As for the Freedom of Information Ordinance, it denies public access to a large category of information.

Taken together, the IPI says, these laws have “a chilling effect” on the freedom of expression in Pakistan.

However, the report notes that “a partially positive” development was the government’s decision to allow TV channels in the private sector.

About India, it says, even though the Indian press considers itself one of the freest in the world, the IPI ranked India 80th in the press freedom index.

In March, the Indian government passed a new Prevention of Terrorism Law, which seeks to put curbs on the Press. The Editors Guild of India said the law contained “draconian measures”.

In the occupied Kashmir, journalists were under threat both from the government and from militants. The closure of all public telephone booths in the held valley handicapped newsmen in the performance of duty, made them miss deadlines and denied access to the Internet.

Zafar Iqbal, correspondent of Kashmir Image, was shot and wounded on May 29, while Iftikhar Geelani, New Delhi bureau chief of Kashmir Times, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act. He was also the correspondent of a Pakistani newspaper.

The government also launched a smear campaign against Alex Perry, correspondent of Time magazine, for reporting on the health of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. The government described him as “a dangerous alien” who allegedly had several passports.

In Lucknow, Paritosh Pandey of Jansatta Express, was murdered for writing about criminal gangs in the UP, and in Haryana, Ram Chander Chatterpati, editor of Poora Sach, was shot four times and wounded by a religious party.

Bangladesh remained the most dangerous place for journalists in South Asia. As the IPI report points out, 12 newsmen were murdered there in the last decade.

Threats to journalists came from both the government and militant political organizations. In March, Harunur Rashid, a reporter of Dainik Parbanchal, was murdered. The same month the government denied entry to a large number of independent media journalists into the parliament building while 20 newsmen working for the government press agency were sacked.

The IPI Report 2002 puts Sri Lanka on its watch list, but says the country has shown some “real improvement” and there are hopes that Sri Lanka may be taken off the list this year.