Pakistan remains one of the world’s most deadly countries for the media. Pakistani journalists are the target of Taliban militants, Baluch separatists and intelligence agencies. In addition, most of the liberal political parties are also not happy with a free media. All these parties were united when a resolution was passed recently against the media in the provincial assembly of Punjab, simply because the media exposed the fake degrees of many parliamentarians.

Interestingly, the recent coverage of floods by most of the Pakistani TV channels was not liked by many top political figures and non-governmental organizations, who accuse the media of glorifying the role of the Pakistani army in relief and rescue operations.

The Pakistani media is under fire from all sides. There is a general perception in some parts of the world that the Pakistani media is very free and strong but the reality on the ground is different. Pakistani journalists and media houses are paying a very heavy price for their freedom. Many journalists have sacrificed their lives as the price of their freedom.

According to IPI’s Death Watch, six Pakistani journalists have already lost their lives in 2010. I personally knew many out of the dozens of journalists who lost their lives over the last decade. In the last six years, 30 journalists have been forced to leave their homes, and about 10 journalists have left the Swat valley in the last two years. In the last year, 20 journalists migrated from Quetta to other parts of the country because they were threatened. Many other journalists have moved from Peshawar to Islamabad, and others are looking for jobs outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These journalists left their homes not only because the Taliban were angry with them; many of them were forced to leave under pressure from intelligence agencies and security outfits.

Sometimes the political leaders and intelligence agencies are united against the media. Often, they act individually. Media house Geo TV suffered billions of rupees in losses due to bans on the transmission of its three channels – including its sports channel – a ban on  advertisements, and other arm-twisting methods.

According to the world press freedom index of 2009 prepared by France-based Reporters without Borders, Pakistan ranks 159th out of175 countries. Afghanistan stands at number 149, Iraq at 145, Bangladesh at 121 and India at 105.Most of the under-developed countries improved their rankings compared to 2008 but Pakistan jumped down seven points in one year. Afghanistan was at number 156 in 2008 but improved seven points and now stands at number 149 – better than Pakistan. Iraq was standing at number 158 in 2008 but improved 13 points and stands at 145 in 2009. Bangladesh improved from 136 to 121 and India from 118 to 105.The figures of 2010 are disturbing. Pakistan is now more dangerous for journalists than Afghanistan and Iraq. It is feared that Pakistan will slide further down the press freedom index in 2010.

It is interesting to note that when the Pakistani media criticised the corruption in different government departments and supported the implementation of Supreme Court verdicts many political leaders accused the media of conspiring against democracy.

Pakistani media have always fought for democracy but the same media is under fire from all the sides in the current democracy. It is the responsibility of democracy to protect freedom of the media but in Pakistan the situation is otherwise. Democracy is failing to protect media freedom. Many journalists who participated in a protest rally a few days ago in support of Umar Cheema, a journalist who was recently abducted, beaten and humiliated, were those who also resisted the dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf. Most of these journalists were threatened and chased by masked men after the demonstration. The president of the National Press Club, Islamabad, Mr. Afzal Butt, was one of those who were chased. Some were told that if they did not shut their mouths they might face very hard times.

(Hamid Mir is Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad,Pakistan)