Press freedom
in peril in Pakistan
A journalist
never knows who his enemy is. He never knows when and by whom he could be
stabbed in the back - by the establishment, local administration, qabza group,
drug mafia, criminal mafia, or any other mafia
By Mohammad Shehzad
On July 5, 1977, the notorious military dictator
General Zia dismissed the government of Z. A. Bhutto sending him to the gallows
with the judiciary`s help; suspended the Constitution abolishing the fundamental
rights; closed down the publications that did not toe his line imposing the
scourge of pre-censorship on the press freedom.
On April 30, 1978 the Pakistan Federation Union of
Journalists (PFUJ) and the All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation
(APNEC) launched a countrywide campaign from Lahore to condemn the censorship.
As a protest, four journalists used to offer voluntary court arrest everyday.
The campaign mobilised other segments of the civil society - trade and labor
unions, lawyers` associations, and human rights organizations also joined it.
They also gave voluntary arrests.
This unexpected triumph unnerved Zia and to foil it
and teach the journalists an unforgettable lesson, he established the military
tribunals which tried them and passed judgements on the same day without giving
defendants an opportunity to defend. Celebrated journalists, Aziz Siddiqi,
Saleem Asmi, Ghazi Salahuddin, Farhad Zaidi, I. A. Rahman, Nisar Osmani and
Minhaj Burna became the first victim of this `dark justice`. But the
punishments could not dent the journalists` enthusiasm. The journalists and the
civil society members kept on courting arrests.
This provoked Zia and he reacted with more arbitrary
methods. Disregarding all norms of humanity, he added the punishment of lashes
in the Martial Law Regulation and to begin with, chose four feeble journalists
to enforce this inhuman law.
On May 13, 1978 Massodullah Khan, senior sub-editor,
The Pakistan Times (he was physically disabled); Iqbal Jafri (a press worker);
and Khawar Naeem Hashmi and Nasir Zaidi of Associated Press of Pakistan were
tried under this atrocious order. After a brief hearing of 45 minutes, they
were awarded a sentence of one-year imprisonment, five lashes and a fine of
5,000 rupees. They were not given the right to appeal and immediately removed
to the Camp Jail, Lahore. After exactly 30 minutes of the dictatorial
judgement, the sentence of lashes was executed. The four journalists were
whipped in front of the Camp Jail`s prisoners!
It was 1990. Benazir`s first government had just been dissolved. Ghulam Mustafa
Jatoi was the caretaker prime minister. Shaheen Sehbai and Ahmed Hassan Alvi of
Dawn met the Indian political counsellor at his residence in an official
connection. On return they were picked up by the agencies and booked under a
fake charge of drinking.
In 1997, Humayun Fur (late), the bureau chief of
Mashriq was picked up by the agencies. He was accused of espionage. He was
tried under the Army Act and sentenced to five-year imprisonment. Mr Far was a
civilian. He was arrested during the democratic administration of Nawaz Sharif
but was tried in a military court. His only fault was, he had refused to be
used by the intelligence agencies.
It was April 1999. The elected prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif was
ruling the country. Najam Sethi, editor, The Friday Times was critical of his
policies. Sethi was picked up by the agencies, beaten up and humiliated in a
manner that was not consistent with the norms and niceties of democracy. He was
illegally detained for a few weeks until the court ordered his release.
Rahamat Shah Afridi, the editor-in-chief of The Frontier
Post did not admire Sharif and Saifur Rahman in his editorials. On April 2,
1999 he was arrested on a fake drug-trafficking charge. Till to date, he is
behind the bars.
Husain Haqqani, an independent journalist, was vocal about Sharif`s
shenanigans. In April 1999, he was abducted and severely beaten by the security
agencies for no reason.