Pakistan
2011
Updates on Wali Khan Babar and Umar Cheema in Pakistan
Here are two quick updates on prominent Pakistani cases we’ve been following: Despite police claims made soon after the assassination-style killing of Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar on January 13, there have been no arrests made in his case, and there is little reason to expect that there will be any. Babar was one…
Journalist gunned down in Pakistan’s violent Baluchistan
New York, February 22, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in calling for an investigation into the drive-by shooting death of Abdost Rind, a 27-year-old part-time journalist in the Turbat area of Baluchistan province in Pakistan’s southwest on February 18.
Documenting sexual violence against journalists
The news of the sexual assault against CPJ board member and CBS correspondent Lara Logan hit us hard on Tuesday. At CPJ, we work daily to advocate on behalf of journalists under attack in all kinds of horrific situations around the world. Because of Lara’s untiring work with our Journalist Assistance program, she’s well known…
At Attacks launch: What if governments are perpetrators?
When we launched the new edition of Attacks on the Press at the United Nations today, I was hit with questions about Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Both dealt with what amounts to the same problem: What do you do when you’re asking a government to investigate a crime in which it might have been the…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Asia Analysis
Partisan Journalism and the Cycle of Repression by Bob Dietz and Shawn W. Crispin Lal Wickramatunga’s family and publishing house, Leader Publications, have paid dearly in Sri Lanka’s highly charged political climate. While Leader’s newspapers, including the weekly Sunday Leader, are widely known for tough, independent reporting, they have been caught up in a partisan…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Pakistan
Top Developments • Suicide bombings take devastating toll on media, killing, injuring dozens. • Journalists face threats from all sides, notably Taliban and the ISI. Key Statistic 8: Journalists killed in relation to their work in 2010, the highest figure in the world. Pakistan was the deadliest nation for the press in 2010 as violence…
Flawed, but important: The Danny Pearl case revisited
It’s good to see that not everyone has forgotten about the Danny Pearl case. The Pearl Project, a three-year investigation carried out by a team of American journalists and students at Georgetown University says that the Pakistani government’s conviction of the four men it claimed beheaded Pearl sometime in February 2002, were convicted on conflicting…
In Pakistan, anti-press attacks spread beyond border
The death of a journalist in Karachi last week shows that violence in Pakistan is occurring well beyond the border areas with Afghanistan. On Thursday evening, Pakistani television reporter Wali Khan Babar was executed shortly after airing a report on gang violence in the city.
Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar gunned down in Karachi
New York, January 13, 2011–Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar was shot and killed in Karachi this evening, shortly after covering gang violence in the city, according to several Pakistani journalists. At least two assailants intercepted Babar’s car at 9:20 p.m., shooting him multiple times in the head and neck, Geo TV Managing Director Azhar…
CPJ concerned for safety of Pakistan’s Sherry Rehman
New York, January 12, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about public threats made against journalist and National Assembly member Sherry Rehman. The government has stepped up protection for Rehman after she supported a bill in the National Assembly that would amend Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The changes include the repeal of the law’s…