Press Emblem Campaign demands justice over killing of Pakistani journalists

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights organisation urged the highest government authority in Islamabad to investigate all relevant cases of the relentless killing of journalists in Pakistan, stressing that culprits involved with the murders should be punished.

The country which is facing a serious internal economic and socio-political crisis lost another scribe on July 14, raising its journo-casualties in 2024 to 8.

Local media reported that Malik Hassan Zaib, who was associated with the Peshawar-based Urdu daily newspaper Aaj was shot dead in Nowshera locality of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  province by  the miscreants, as he was moving in his car. Hassan Zaib (40) was a member of  Peshawar Press Club and his fellow journalists organised  a protest demonstration on Monday demanding justice for the victim. 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur also condemned the assassination and directed the police forces to nab the culprits. 

Rural Media Network Pakistan and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists urged the government to pay adequate compensation to the bereaved family, whilst condemning the act.

“Malik Hassan Zaib becomes the 71st journalist to be murdered since 1 January across the globe. We extend our moral support to the agitating Pakistani media bodies for justice to the victim.  Both the federal and provincial  governments must take serious notes of the murder and book the perpetrators to punish under the law,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC, adding that the culture of immunity to the murders must be demolished in Pakistan as early as possible. 

Lempen, on another matter, expressed relief that a Kenya court recently  awarded $78,000 as compensation to the widow (Javeria Siddique) of  popular Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, who was mistakenly shot dead by the Kenyan police at Kajiado in 2022.

PEC’s south and southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria revealed that prior to Hassan Zaib, Pakistan lost seven journalists namely Khalil Afridi Jibran, Nasrullah Gadani, Kamran Dawar,  Mehar Ashfaq Siyal, Maulana Mohammad Siddique Mengal, Jam Saghir Ahmad Lar and Tahira Nosheen Rana to assailants this year. Meanwhile, India witnessed the killing of television journalist Ashutosh Shrivastava in Uttar Pradesh on 13 May. 

Myanmar lost one scribe (Ko Myat Thu Tun) to military atrocities during this period.