The International Press Institute (IPI) on Wednesday expressed concern at increasing violence against journalists in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, after a banned militant group threatened to target six journalists from the district of Khuzdar. A man who introduced himself as a spokesperson for the “Baloch Musallah Defa Army” (BMDA) called the press club in the city of Naushki and threatened to attack the journalists over allegations that they were “informers” of local separatist groups.
The man also threatened Khuzdar Press Club president Nabeel Gurnani, warning him against allowing his organisation to be used for “negative activities”, the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) reported.
Commenting on the threats, IPI Board Member Owais Aslam Ali, chairman of the Pakistan Press International (PPI) news agency, told IPI: “I can only express my concern that journalists in Balochistan have become deliberate targets of violence. During the last twelve months alone two journalists from the town of Khuzdar were deliberately targeted and murdered.”
Munir Shakir, a correspondent for the news channel Sabzbat Balochistan, TV One and the wire service of Online News Network, was shot dead on 14 August 2011 on his way home from the Press Club in Khuzdar. On 12 December 2011, the president of Khuzdar Press Club, Muhammad Khan Sasoli, a journalist with Royal TV and the INP news agency, died instantly when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot him outside his home in Balochistan.
“The government must ensure that law enforcement and security agencies recognise the role of journalists in covering the low-level separatist insurgency and provide a safe environment for them to work,” Ali noted.
IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “We are extremely worried about our colleagues in Balochistan. The climate of violence threatens not only journalists’ lives but also the flow of information about events in one of the most volatile regions in the world.”
Following is a statement issued by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on this issue:
November 28, 2011
PPF News Flash
Pakistan: Khuzdar journalists receive threats from banned militant group
A banned militant organization “Baloch Musallah Defa Army” (BMDA) threatened six journalists belonging to Khuzdar district of Pakistan’s southern Balochistan province on November 25, 2011.
According to press reports Mir Jang Baloch, the spokesman of BMDA in a phone call to the Naushki Press Club said the organisation will target those journalists who are working as informers of separatist groups, Baloch Republican Army and Baloch Liberation Army. Jang also threatened the Khuzdar Press Club president, Nabeel Gurnani, against allowing his club to be used for ‘negative activities’.
The journalists who were threatened included Nabeel Gurnani, correspondent of “Express News” TV channel and president of Khuzdar Press club, Abdul Haq Baloch, correspondent of “ARY News” TV channel, Abdullah Khidrani, correspondent of “KTN News” TV channel and Daily “Kawish”, Munir Noor, correspondent of Daily “Balochistan News” and Abdullah Shahwani, correspondent of “Aaj TV” channel.
Journalists from Khuzdar district after receiving the threats started a protest demo outside Khuzdar Press Club, where they warned that the fresh threats against journalists were alarming as three Khuzdar-based journalists had been killed for their reporting since June 2010. On November 28 the protesting journalists left for Quetta to stage a demo in front of Quetta Press Club on Tuesday.
