ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition (PJSC) has the federal and Sindh governments one month to set up commissions to protect journalists, in accordance with the law.

The group warned that if the commissions were not set up, it would publish a “white paper” to highlight how the perpetrators of crimes against journalists continued to evade accountability.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the PJSC-federal chapter president Hamid Mir said it had been three years since the National Assembly passed the law under which the commission was to be set up.

Yet, the federal government has not completed the process of notifying the commission to “combat impunity for crimes against journalists”.

Laments inaction to end impunity for perpetrators of crimes against media workers

The meeting discussed the persistent impunity for perpetrators of crimes against journalists despite all stakeholders’ demonstrating support and commitment.

The PJSC meeting discussed the slow pace of the process for notifying the federal commission while the body in Sindh was awaiting the nomination of a new chairperson since the incumbent’s resignation three months back.

“[Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif was the [keynote] speaker at the PJSC meeting in December 2022 and publicly announced that the federal commission would soon be set up,” Mr Mir said, adding it has been two years since his announcement and yet the commission hasn’t been notified.

Sindh Commission for Protection of Journalists and Other Media Prac­titioners member Jabbar Khattak told the meeting that the provincial government had not yet notified the commission’s new chairperson.

“The Sindh minister for information, Sharjeel Memon, told me that the provincial cabinet would meet on [December 3] to approve the nomination of a new chairperson,” Mr Khattak added.

Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak said the federal government was silent on its commitment to combat the impunity for crimes against journalists.

“Islamabad is the second most dangerous city after Sindh, where most cases of threats to journalists were reported in the last year,” he told the meeting.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists president Afzal Butt also spoke on the occasion stating that the federal commission on combating impunity for crimes against journalists was being “kept in cold storage”.

He said mere demands weren’t enough to form the commission and the government would have to be “forced to meet its obligations”.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said the government was “playing the victim’s card”.

The oppression and suppression of digital spaces have added a “new dimension to the safety and security of journalists”, Mr Babar said.

The PJSC meeting reiterated its demand for a judicial commission to probe the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif and probe the “fake” case registered against journalist Matiullah Jan.

Rehan Ahmed of Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors, Human Rights Commis­sion of Pakistan council member Sadia Bukhari, National Press Club secretary Nayyar Ali, Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists president Tariq Virk, National Commission of Human Rights representative Shazil Malik, journalist Asma Shirazi and Myra Imran of the Women Journalists Association of Pakis­tan also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024