November 2nd, 2021
By Ahmed Saeed and Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, Voicepk.net takes a look into the progress of investigation and trials of murder and assault cases of different journalists in the country.
According to the UNESCO observatory of killed journalists, nine out of 10 cases of killing of journalists remain judicially unresolved around the world.
Pakistan is not an exception to the above global statistics concerning the impunity for crimes against journalists.
In some cases, the suspects have not been arrested while in others the trials have lingered on without conviction.
Shahid Zehri
Shahid Zehri, who was associated with Metro1 News was killed in a bomb explosion in Balochistan’s Hub town on October 10.
The banned ethnic separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility for the attack. Zehri’s father told Voicepk that the police had not arrested anyone in connection with the murder of his son.
According to his father, the officials of local counter-terrorism department (CTD) had visited him twice to know whether his son had any animosity with anyone.
“I clearly told them that he was a peace-loving person and had no enmity with anyone,” he added.
Zehri’s father also revealed that his son had not shared receiving threats from any group or organization with his family. He believed that his son was killed due to his journalistic work.
Abdul Wahid Raisani
Abdul Wahid Raisani,23, was shot dead by an unknown assailant in Quetta on April 24. At the time of his murder, Raisani was working at a local Urdu language newspaper “Daily Azadi”.
The police registered the FIR against unidentified suspects but later arrested a man and a woman in connection with the killing.
“The arrested woman was identified as Rabia and she was the mastermind of the crime”, the slain journalist’s brother Shoaib told Voicepk. He said the arrested man is Rabia’s brother while their other accomplice, Rafiullah, who was Rabia’s husband is still at large.
“Rabia and her brother have already confessed the crime but we still don’t know what was their motive for killing my brother,” he said. Rabia has been recently granted bail by the Balochistan High Court,” Shoaib said.
The family is unhappy with the investigation and prosecution of the case. “We are not satisfied with the progress of the case. The third accused, Rafiullah has not been arrested and reportedly fled to Afgahnistan while the main accused Rabia has been released on bail. “This is not the justice that was promised to us,” Shoaib said.
Ajay Lalwani
The anti-terrorism court has rejected report of a joint investigation team, constituted by the Sindh government, into the murder of journalist Ajay Lalwani. The Sukkur journalist was killed in Salehpat Town on March 18.
The main suspects’ former chairman of Salehpat town committee Inayat Shah, vice-chairman Ihsan Shah, and former SHO Ashiq Mirani are on interim bail in the case. Five other accused- Akbar Mangrio, Raza Shah, Jameel Shah, Mustafa Mirani and Janab Mirani- are in jail.
According to Hera Nand, uncle of Ajay Lalwani, the accused are using legal lacunas to delay the trial in the anti-terrorism court. “The family members are continuously receiving threats from the accused,” he added.
Zubair Rajput, counsel for Lalwani’s family, told Voicepk that the accused have move application to shift the trial from the anti-terrorism to the sessions court in order to delay the framing of charges against all the accused in the murder case. He said the court rejected the JIT report after they argued that the three main suspects had been left off in the case.
Anwar Jan Khetran
The murder case of Anwar Jan Kethran is under trial at a local court. Kethran, a reporter for the Naveed-e-Pakistan daily newspaper, was shot dead by two gunmen in Barkhan.
The family had accused provincial minister Abdul Rehman Khetran of ordering his two bodyguards to kill Anwar Jan Kethran for exposing cases of local corruption.
“Police have not yet arrested Nadir while Adam is under trial for last seven months,” Saddam Khetran told Voicepk.net. He claimed that Nadir and Adam were bodyguards of Abdul Rehman Khetran. The family has nominated Abdul Rehman Khetran but the police have not arrested him too, he added.
Asad Toor
Asad Ali Toor, a journalist and blogger was attacked by three unidentified assailants on May 25th inside his residence in Islamabad.
However, after the passage of six months police has failed to arrest a single suspect in connection with the attack on Asad Toor.
“Police found the fingerprints from the crime scene and sent it to the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) for matching but they didn’t respond to our requests about the results,” Toor told Voicepk.net. After a wait of four months, chairman Nadra told a parliamentary committee that Nadra has failed to match the fingerprints with their record, he said.
Similarly, the Federal Investigation Authority has given no response on the video footage as regard to the whereabouts and identities of the assailants seen in them,” Toor said.
Toor in his FIR claimed that one of the attackers had also received a phone call and he asked the authorities to conduct geo-fencing of the crime scene. “I have not been apprised of the results of geo-fencing as well”, he said.
According to Toor, few weeks ago he was approached by a few people who told him that the attackers have been arrested and would be bought before media soon but nothing of this sort has happened. “I have zero hope that my attackers would ever be arrested because no law enforcement agency is serious in catching the culprits or they already know who the attackers are but can’t arrest them due to their influence,” Toor added.
Absar Alam
“There has been no development into the investigations in my case while police has not contacted or informed me in this regard,” Absar Alam told Voicepk.net.
“The Standing Committee on Information was to take up my case in the last week but it was postponed,” he added.
I’m critical of the government and exposed the pressures that I faced as chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority as a journalist could be the reasons of the slack police investigations into the case,” he said.
Matiullah Jan
Senior Matiullah Jan said there has been no progress in identifying the suspects who assaulted and kidnapped him in July last year.
“Even the Supreme Court has not conducted hearing into my case for several months,” he told Voicepk.net. The Supreme Court conducted three hearings but it seemed that the court has lost interest in his case, Jan added. He said the police had not contacted him in the case for over a year now.
Over 1,200 journalists have been killed around the world between 2006 and 2020, the UNESCO observatory revealed.
According to UNESCO’s paper “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists”, New data has shown that killings of journalists have declined globally by 20% in the last 5 years (2016-2020) compared to the previous 5 years period (2011-2015).
However, the data highlights that the level of impunity for crimes against journalists remains extremely high globally, with an impunity rate of 87%, representing a similarly high rate to previous years, and that threats of violence against the media are on the rise.
Website launched
Separately, the Editors for Safety (EFS) has launched a website to highlight atrocities committed against journalists across the country.
The Pakistan Journalists Memorial website will commemorate the contribution and sacrifice of the brave media professionals who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Over 1,200 journalists have been killed around the world between 2006 and 2020, the UNESCO observatory revealed.
According to UNESCO’s paper “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists”, New data has shown that killings of journalists have declined globally by 20% in the last 5 years (2016-2020) compared to the previous 5 years period (2011-2015).
However, the data highlights that the level of impunity for crimes against journalists remains extremely high globally, with an impunity rate of 87%, representing a similarly high rate to previous years, and that threats of violence against the media are on the rise.
