Historic elections need strong support for freedom of information

Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to Pakistan’s government and political party leaders on the eve of tomorrow’s parliamentary elections, voicing concern that reporting is becoming increasingly difficult in some parts of the countries and urging the next government to protect news providers. President Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister Mir Khazar Khan Khoso
Leaders of Pakistan’s political parties
Paris, 10 May 2013 Dear President Zardari, Dear Prime Minister Khoso, Dear Political Party Leaders, Tomorrow’s parliamentary elections will be the first in Pakistan’s history in which an elected civilian government completes its term and hands over to another elected government. This will be a major advance for democracy in a country that has been used to military coups, and Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that defends freedom of information, congratulates you for succeeding in ensuring that this takes place. However, we would like to share with our concern about the threats to freedom of information posed by the waves of violence sweeping Pakistan, which has been the world’s deadliest country for journalists since the start of 2013. News control, censorship and harassment of journalists and netizens in the Tribal Areas must be combatted, and all means possible must be used to prevent these evils from extending to other provinces and creating information “black holes.” Armed groups spreading terror must not be allowed to spoil these democratic elections. A total of six journalists have been killed in connection with their work since the start of the year in Pakistan, four of them in the province Balochistan. Three of the Balochistan victims – Mohammad Iqbal of News Network International and Saifur Rehman and Imran Shaikh of Samaa News – were killed in a double bombing in Quetta on 10 January. The fourth, Mehmood Ahmed Afridi of Intikhab, was killed by the Balochistan Liberation Army in Kalat on 1 March. Elsewhere, Malik Mumtaz Khan, a reporter for Geo News TV and the Jang media group, was gunned down in North Waziristan on 27 February, while Aslam Durrani of the Urdu-language Daily Pakistan was the victim of a suicide bombing that killed 17 people at an Awami National Party meeting in Peshawar on 16 April. The holding of these parliamentary elections seems to have raised renewed hopes for democracy in Pakistian. If these hopes are to be realized, it is up to you, senior government officials and political party representatives, to ensure respect for media freedom. To this end, Reporters Without Borders urges you to take effective measures to ensure the physical safety of journalists and a complete end to the impunity enjoyed by those who murder news providers. The perpetrators and instigators of these murders must be identified and brought to justice. We call on the government to end the abuses by Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and above all by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which have been implicated in many cases of surveillance, abduction, torture and murders of journalists. We also urge you to ensure respect for all publishing and broadcasting of reports about the holding of these elections and their results, in order to guarantee the transparency that is necessary if they are to be credible. Reporters Without Borders stands ready to support you in all these initiatives and to accompany Pakistan in its progress towards democracy. We are also available to discuss the points raised in this letter in more detail. Sincerely, Christophe Deloire
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Information about Pakistan’s three “predators of freedom of information”: - Mullah Mohammad Omar - Pakistan’s intelligence services - Baloch armed groups Photo : A. MAJEED / AFP