Pakistani talk show host Hamid Mir suspended after critical comments on the military
Washington, D.C., May 31, 2021–In response to the suspension today of Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, host of “Capital Talk” news program, by the Geo News network following Mir’s critical comments about the Pakistan military at a rally on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Forcing a popular news talk show host…
CPJ urges Pakistani officials to rescue Jang executive, keep other journalists safe
New York, September 29, 2016– The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the kidnapping of Abid Abdullah, executive director of the Jang media group, and called on Pakistani authorities to ensure the safety of journalists who the kidnappers explicitly threatened.
In Pakistan, Geo bureau chief abducted and robbed, then released
New York, July 27, 2015–Unidentified armed men in Pakistan abducted the Karachi bureau chief of the TV channel Geo News on Saturday and beat and robbed him before releasing him, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Faheem Siddiqui’s abduction and calls on Pakistani authorities to ensure the assailants are held to…
Between conflict and stability: Journalists in Pakistan and Mexico cope with everyday threats
By Daniel DeFraia The Pakistani journalist knew the risk, but he wrote the story about the militants anyway. Years earlier he had been shot, after reporting on another taboo subject, but for him the freelance work was thrilling, even after he had to marry his girlfriend in secret and flee Pakistan without her–and still now,…
One year later: Hamid Mir on the attempt to kill him and what came next
Hamid Mir and I last saw each other in Islamabad in late January at a meeting of the Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety. Mir, a senior anchor for Geo News, seemed as if he was on the road to recovery, but he was obviously still in pain from injuries he sustained during an assassination attempt…
A year after Raza Rumi attack, little change for Pakistan’s beleaguered press
One year ago Raza Rumi, a TV anchor and widely-respected analyst in Pakistan, narrowly escaped death when gunmen opened fire on his car in an attack that killed his driver, Mustafa. When I wrote about the March 28 attack, the fourth on the Express Group in eight months that had left four people dead, I…
Mission Journal: Finding a legal solution to siege of Pakistan’s media
Pakistan’s media, long under siege, face new challenges. “We had managed to get the genie out of the lamp,” was the way one Pakistani journalist explained it to me during a trip there last month. “But now, the military has pushed it back in and I’m not sure when we’ll be able to get it…
More threats against Pakistan’s Hamid Mir
The well-known and controversial Pakistani television talk show host Hamid Mir survived a murder attempt on April 19, even though he was hit with six bullets–two of which are still in his body. “I can move, I can walk and I can talk, but I am still undergoing physiotherapy and taking medication,” he emailed to…
Q&A: Pakistan’s Hamid Mir speaks about climate for press freedom following attack
In April, Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir was shot multiple times shortly after a CPJ delegation met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who pledged to take several steps to improve journalist security. The investigation into the attack has yielded no accountability. And since the attack, two arrest warrants have been issued by courts in…