Weekly Baang Karachi Tuesday, May 11----17 2010

(Editoria)

Press freedom day & GB

The Press Freedom Day was recently observed in the world including Gilgit-Baltistan. The day is observed worldwide every year to highlight issues confronting media persons and organizations and the states’ responsibilities to resolve them and provide a safe and congenial atmosphere to the journalists. However, media persons as well as publishers in almost every country today are faced with serious issues. This has become more formidable in the wake of the so-called war on terrorism. Those engaged with the profession of journalism are not only facing life threats but also suffering financial constraints to perform their duties in a free atmosphere. Today the region of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral remains safe from the menace of terrorism because it neither harbors any terrorist nor promotes elements of terror. However, it is also a fact that Gilgit-Baltistan is the only colony of the world even in the 21st century where ominous clouds of another type of worst and horrible terrorism still refuse to subside. For the last about 63 years, this region while in search of its basic rights has been suffering from all types of intimidations and injustices at the hands of the rulers of Pakistan and the international community.

On the one hand the government of Pakistan is of the view that because of being part of the former princely state of Kashmir, its future political status is to be determined through a plebiscite under the UN while on the other the same Pakistan has been plundering the natural resources of Gilgit-Baltistan under the garb of administrative control and assistance.

As a result, today the region not only is plunged into abysmal poverty but is also deprived of proper education in this era of science and technology. In such a situation, there are some sons of the soils who have been trying their best to create awareness about political, social and legal rights of the masses in this backward region. However, it is ironic that Pakistani rulers have used all resources and state machinery to silence the voice of these sympathizers of the people of the region terming them traitors and anti-state elements in order to keep the masses in the dark and perpetuate their rules on them.

The rulers have always used a carrot and stick policy against media persons of Gilgit-Baltistan. There have been cases when journalists were black mailed, offered bribes to toe the state line or threatened with dire consequences. The state administration through their secret agencies has also been involved in kidnapping journalists, torturing them and even banishing them for writing against the injustices with the masses. So far scores of media persons have fallen victims to such brinkmanship. The death of a local journalist, Super Raja, was very easily termed suicide after which nobody bothered even to hold a probe to ascertain the actual causes of his death. Similarly, Manzar Shigri, Arshad Wali, and Sharafuddin Faryad faced police brutality for writing the truth. Unknown persons attacked the house of Gilgit Press Club president, Mr Khurshid, and threw a bomb into the building; however, he along with his family remained unhurt. During the reign of Pervez Musharraf, monthly Kargil International faced closure and its publisher Ghulam Shehzad Agha and chief editor Manzoor Hussain Parwana still face cases. Besides, Nisar Abbas was roughed up by some persons in Skardu.

In Chitral, the situation remains even worse. There a handful of unprofessional persons have been ruling the roost claiming to be journalists but never writing about real issues of society. They also deny space to young journalists to perpetuate their own hold on the field.

The Pakistani general heading the national disaster management authority and the former governor of GB threatened Zulfiqar Ali Khan of Hunza for reporting the Atabad landsliding and subsequent crisis in Pakistan’s widely circulated English daily. A ban was also imposed on his invitation to any government briefing about the Atabad crisis. Shokor Azam Rumi, another journalist of the region, was kidnapped and tortured by some coterie of state forces and threatened that he would be eliminated if he did not stop writing against some vested interest groups. Sadat Ali Mujahid was forced to cancel a forum to discuss the political situation of the region for a media group. As the law of Pakistan does not apply to Gilgit-Baltistan, security agencies go scot-free while using all types of tactics to silence the media in the region. Even so called political leaders are not behind the state forces in controlling the press. Soon after taking over, the dummy chief minister invited the media persons of GB to a reception in Islamabad and warned them not to dare write against his new administration.

There is also another side to the picture which is more horrible side of the story. This consists of a group of journalists and media organizations of the region which have failed to write the truth ostensibly for monetary or other benefits. These so called journalists and media organizations never deem it their responsibility to write against injustices faced by the nation, lack of healthcare, educational facilities and Pakistan’s deliberate tactic to keep the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan deprived of their basic rights for the last about 63 years.

When we look at the media of Pakistan and its role in highlighting the political, social and economic issues of Gilgit-Baltistan, we see the situation very disappointing. As the vibrant media of Pakistan goes to any extent in highlighting even a small human rights violation in any party of the country, it has totally failed to divert its attention towards what is happening in Gilgit-Baltistan. This region is facing rampant human rights violations but the picture is not coming out to the outside world.