ISLAMABAD, July 12: PPP spokesman and former senator Farhatullah Babar has said that never before the lives and liberty of journalists were so much in danger as these were today.

He was speaking as guest speaker at a seminar on “Security of Journalists in Fata”, organised by a local NGO in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The PPP leader called upon the journalists’ bodies and civil society to raise their voice against growing incidents of disappearances and murder of investigative reporters.

Four journalists had been killed under mysterious circumstances and several others kidnapped and produced before court after several months only after protests by journalists in the wake of murder of Hayatullah in Waziristan.

He said it was critical for the journalists and civil society to demand that the state agencies be brought under some law and made accountable to the civilian authority for their acts of omission and commission.

He said the duality of control over the security and intelligence agencies was the main cause of the agencies going haywire.

The former senator said just yesterday the Sindh High Court was informed by the government that the defence ministry exercised only administrative control over the ISI and MI and it did not have any operational control or jurisdiction to enforce the court’s directions on these agencies.

He proposed a three pronged strategy to fight the latest challenges to the media freedom.

Firstly, the journalists should galvanise a national struggle to bring the agencies under some law; secondly, the draconian FCR must be changed, and finally the official secrets act be amended to bring it in conformity with modern times.

Farhatullah Babar paid homage to the four journalists killed in the line of duty. “They have written history of Wana with their blood. They are the front line fighters for freedom of the press in tribal areas.”

These were very difficult times for journalists and the people of Pakistan, he said, adding that “anything can happen to anybody anywhere in this country. No one has yet been held accountable for the kidnappings, tortures and killings of innocent people”.

Mr Babar said journalists faced threats from militants, military and tribal Maliks. “But the greatest threat comes from the most powerful group, the government itself. Nobody will be able to question one of the prime suspects in the kidnapping and killing of Hayatullah,” he added.

He said intelligence and security agencies were the root of the problem.

Criticising the state’s attempts to suppress freedom of press, the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) on Wednesday condemned the kidnappings and killings of tribal journalists in conflict-hit Wana.

Members from the TUJ demanded justice for the slain journalists and sought better security measures for those working in Wana.

Highlighting the dangerous and hostile conditions for tribal journalists in Wana, speakers said access of local media and journalists to areas under operations was denied. No reliable information regarding activities of militants, military operations, target killings and loss of property was coming out of the areas gripped in conflict.