Media

A top journalism watchdog group has condemned Pakistan's closure of RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal office in Islamabad, calling it a "direct threat to press freedom" in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry on January 19 ordered the closure after Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency accused the private, U.S.-government-funded broadcaster of airing programs “against the interest of Pakistan” and “in line with [a] hostile intelligence agency’s agenda.”

"The order to close Radio Mashaal is a draconian move by Pakistani authorities and a direct threat to press freedom," said Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect Journalism's Asia program coordinator.

"Radio Mashaal is an important source of information and should be allowed to continue operating without delay," he said.

Butler in an e-mail to the Associated Press said the move is part of a pattern of increasing pressure on journalists in Pakistan.

"It's hard to know precisely what prompted the order," he told AP. "However, it is certainly only the latest move from the military that puts pressure on the media to stay away from sensitive issues, including criticism of the military itself."

Butler told AP that the closure might also be retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's New Year's Day tweet accusing Pakistan of "lies and deceit."

"It also comes just after the Trump administration cut off military aid to Pakistan and could possibly be a kind of retaliation," said Butler. "It does not bode well for press freedom inside the country."

Trump on January 1 accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit" and said the United States would suspend up to $1.9 billion a year in military aid until Islamabad moves decisively against Afghan Taliban fighters and Haqqani network militants who he said have found safe haven within Pakistan's borders.

Pakistan’s chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, responded to Trump's criticism on January 12, saying that Pakistan felt “betrayed” by the U.S. accusation that it is not doing enough to fight terrorism and by Washington’s decision to suspend military aid for Islamabad.

Pakistan's order against Radio Mashaal accused the news outlet of “portraying Pakistan [as] a hub of terrorism and [a] safe haven for different militant groups.”

It said Radio Mashaal programming presented Pakistan as a “failed state in terms of providing security to its people,” in particular minorities and ethnic Pashtuns.

It said Radio Mashaal showed ethnic Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Balochistan Province, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan as “disenchanted with the state.”

It also accused the broadcaster of “distorting facts [to] incite the target population against the state and its institutions.”

Pakistani Interior Ministry officers went to the broadcaster’s Islamabad bureau on January 19 and met with the bureau chief and administrator to discuss the closure order.

RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said he was “extraordinarily concerned by the closure” and was “urgently seeking more information about the Pakistani authorities’ intentions.”

Kent said Radio Mashaal, which broadcasts from Prague and has both radio and digital operations, is a “private news organization supported by the U.S. Congress with no connection to the intelligence agencies of any country.”

“Radio Mashaal is an essential source of reliable, balanced information for our Pakistani audience,” Kent said. “We hope this situation will be resolved without delay.”

In emphasizing that "Radio Mashaal serves no intelligence agency or government," Kent said “our reporters are Pakistani citizens who are dedicated to their country and live and raise families in the villages in which they report."

"We demand that their safety be ensured, and that they be permitted to resume their work without fear or delay,” Kent said.

With reporting by AP

An Afghan media watchdog says that 2017 was the “bloodiest” year ever for journalists and other media personnel working in Afghanistan, with the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militant groups being blamed for much of the violence.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) said in a report released on January 11 that 20 journalists and media workers were killed last year, an increase from 13 deaths in 2016.

The group said there were 169 reported cases of violence and threats against journalists on the job, with 12 of them directed toward female media workers. In 2106, AJSC documented 101 such cases.

The report said “terrorist groups” such as the Taliban and IS were responsible for “all cases of the killings of journalists.” The Taliban was blamed for the deaths of 18 journalists, while IS was blamed for two.

The Western-backed government in Kabul has been fighting Taliban extremists since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001 drove them from power. IS and other terror groups have also begun operating in Afghanistan, often attacking mosque worshippers and government and security officials, along with journalists.

“An unprecedented increase in threats and violence against journalists has created serious concern about the survival of freedoms of expression and press,” the Kabul-based AJSC said in its regular six-month report.

“Because freedom of expression, freedom of press, and media pluralism are among the country’s most important achievements in the past 16 years, the threat to media is considered a threat to the country’s overall progress,” added the group, which describes itself as an independent, nonprofit organization supporting press freedom in Afghanistan.

The report also blamed government workers for some of the attacks on the press, saying they are responsible for 34 percent of the “violence and intimidation against journalists.”

In 2017, the majority of incidents of violence against media personnel took place in Kabul and in northern provinces -- specifically Parwan, Kapisa, and Panjsher. The safest areas for journalists were in the southeastern provinces, the report said.

“Although the government’s leadership has made many commitments to protect journalists and collaborate with the media -- issuing numerous decrees for protecting journalists -- these official measures have failed to deliver the desired results in reducing violence against journalists,” the AJSC said.

Along with direct violence, the report cited examples of intimidation against media outlets by the Taliban and IS, leading to situations of “self-censorship.”

It said that in “insecure provinces” such as Ghazni, Logar, and Pakitia, the extremist groups have forced the media to avoid broadcasting and printing content that includes “female songs, music, promotional ads of security forces, and ads related to the peace process.”

In a report last month, the international Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that 65 professional journalists, citizen-journalists, and media workers were killed across the world in 2017, representing an 18 percent decline from the 2016 figure.