2014

New York, May 9, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that Pakistani authorities might decline to renew visas for the only two Indian journalists working in the country. Authorities on Thursday informed Meena Menon, a correspondent for The Hindu, and Snehesh Alex Philip, a correspondent for the Press Trust of India, that their visas would not be renewed and that they would need to leave the country in one week, The Wall Street Journal reported. CPJ calls on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to honor pledges he made to CPJ earlier this year to ease visa restrictions for foreign journalists. 

Masked men threw a hand grenade at the home of Express News Bureau Chief Jamshed Baghwan in the Murshadabad neighborhood of Peshawar on April 6, 2014, according to news reports. Baghwan was in his home at the time of the attack, but no one was injured, news accounts said. The main gate of the home and a boundary wall were damaged.

New York, April 22, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by actions brought by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) against Geo Television today. In its complaint to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the ISI accused Geo's parent company, the Independent Media Corporation, of conducting a "false and scandalous campaign undermining the integrity and tarnishing the image of state institution (ISI) and its officers."

New York, April 19, 2014­--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the continuing violence directed at journalists in Pakistan. Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir today was shot three times soon after he and his driver left Karachi's main airport, according to media reports. The driver was not wounded.

Pakistani PM pledges justice, journalist security to CPJ

A CPJ delegation traveled to Pakistan this month and met with high-level Pakistani officials including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who pledged to continue to expand Pakistan's media freedoms and address the insecurity plaguing the country's journalists.

New York, March 28, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalist condemns today's attack on the senior Pakistani journalist Raza Rumi in Lahore, which killed his driver. Unidentified gunmen fired on Rumi's car near the Raja Market neighborhood after he left the studio following his TV show. Rumi and his guard were injured, according to news reports. The driver was identified only as Mustafa in reports.

Islamabad, March 19, 2014 -- In a wide-ranging meeting today with a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to continue to expand Pakistan's media freedoms and address the insecurity plaguing the country's journalists. He also promised to ease visa and travel restrictions on foreign journalists working in the county. 

On March 7, 2014, at least 20 assailants stormed the offices of Chingari, an Urdu-language daily based in Mirpur, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to local reports and local press freedom groups, including the Freedom Network and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. 

New York, March 3, 2014--A Pakistani court on Saturday convicted six defendants for their roles in the murder of Wali Khan Babar, a Geo TV journalist who was shot dead in Karachi in January 2011, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the convictions--the first in the murder of a Pakistani journalist--but calls on authorities to ensure the masterminds are brought to justice.

New York, February 18, 2014--Pakistani authorities should launch an efficient investigation into attacks against media outlets in Karachi and ensure the perpetrators are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.