CPJ Impunity Index: Situation unlikely to improve in Pakistan
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its Impunity Index Report “Getting Away with Murder” for 2015 which looks at unsolved murders of journalists - in countries where attacks on journalists mostly go unpunished - as a percentage of the country’s population.
While Pakistan’s position remains unchanged at number 9, its rating has improved by 0.004 points from 0.123 in 2014
By ONLINE
October 09, 2015
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its Impunity Index Report “Getting Away with Murder” for 2015 which looks at unsolved murders of journalists - in countries where attacks on journalists mostly go unpunished - as a percentage of the country’s population.
While Pakistan’s position remains unchanged at number 9, its rating has improved by 0.004 points from 0.123 in 2014 to 0.119 in the latest report.
The report points out that there are 22 unsolved murders of journalists in Pakistan including three killed since the release of the last report in 2014.
Identifying Pakistan as one of the countries “where potent illegal armed groups actively menace journalists,” the report highlights diminishing hope that the situation in Pakistan will get better. It points out Pakistan has failed to “implement a series of commitments to CPJ to address impunity.”
The report highlights that with the exception of Wali Khan Babar’s murder case, “impunity remains the norm in these murder cases and a slew of recent, non-fatal attacks, such as the shooting that gravely injured popular news anchor Hamir Mir.”
“Threats to journalists stream from military and intelligence agencies, political parties, criminal groups and militants, and corrupt local leaders. Pakistan is a focus country for the UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity, an initiative that has improved dialogue and coordination among civil society, media, and the government but not yet led to any significant reduction in impunity."
The report looks at countries where five or more journalists have been killed in the last decade. The 14 countries in the list account for 83% of unsolved murders of journalists globally during 1st September 2005 and 31st August 2015. Therefore this list does not include the murders of Arshad Jaffery of Geo News and senior journalist Aftab Alam murdered in September 2015.
Pakistan is among the countries that have been included in the impunity index every year since 2008 which according to the report “demonstrates the tenacity of the cycle of violence and impunity.”
The report notes that 96 percent of the victims were local reporters, with the majority covering politics and corruption, adding that threats often preceded the murders.
Forty percent of the victims had reported having received threats before they were killed, however it mentioned that threats once reported are rarely investigated.
Nearly one third of the victims were kidnapped before their murders and were subjected to torture which the report identifies as “a clear attempt to send the media a message of intimidation” and, in “only two percent of cases are the masterminds ever apprehended and prosecuted.”
The CPJ Impunity Index reproduced:
"Getting Away With Murder" CPJ’s 2015 Global Impunity Index
