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when the bomb disposal experts were able to defuse a bomb attached to his
car. The bomb was placed under the car and was spotted by a neighbour’s
driver. The Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed responsibility and added that the attack
was in response to Hamid Mir’s coverage of the attack on Malala Yousafzai,
the young advocate of women’s education, in Swat.
December
♦ Two journalists in Sindh, Arbab Bheel of Dharti TV and Mushtaq
Qambar of daily Sindh Express, faced threats when they reported on the rape
of a minor Hindu girl. The main accused in the rape of the 6-year-old called
the journalists and told them to quit following the case if they wished to live.
Mushtaq Qambar was also physically assaulted and continued to receive
threatening calls.
♦ Two journalists in Mohmand agency were arrested without warrant
and taken into custody. The security forces raided the Mohmand Agency
Press Club and took Saeed Badshah and Kifayatullah into custody. Local
journalists staged protests and blocked the Peshawar-Bajaur road demanding
the release of the journalists.
♦ A journalist, Jamshed Kharal, was shot dead when a group of armed
men intercepted a bus on Quetta-Sukkur highway and kidnapped six individuals.
Three individuals, including the journalist, tried to escape and as a consequence
were shot and killed. The slain journalist worked for a newspaper in Quetta.
Impunity for perpetrators of journalists’ killings continued in 2012 and no
headway was made in apprehending or prosecuting the killers of any of the
journalists killed in 2012. Out of the over 80 journalists killed in Pakistan since
the year 2000, the perpetrators have been tried only in one case, that of American
journalist Daniel Pearl. Several high profile cases of attacks on journalists
remain unsolved and the perpetrators roam free. From the government’s action
it appeared as if its responsibility to bring the killers to justice stood fulfilled
the moment a terrorist or militant organisation claimed responsibility for an
attack. Numerous probes were launched and commissions formed to investigate
journalists’ killings but there was no concrete result. The well-known cases of
the murder of journalists Wali Khan Babar and Saleem Shahzad gained much
coverage in the media but unfortunately that did not translate into the capture
of those responsible. In the case of Wali Khan Babar, the Geo reporter gunned
down on a busy road in Karachi, the last eyewitness of the murder was also
gunned down in November 2012. The complainant’s lawyer also skipped court
amid threats. There was much talk of introducing a witness protection law,
however, the plans did not materialise in 2012. The ring leader, Faisal Mota,
was still at large at the end of 2012 while the prime suspect in the murder,
Liaqat Ali, was killed in a police encounter.
The judicial commission formed to probe the Saleem Shahzad case presented
its report in 2012. Despite pointing fingers in general at the intelligence agencies
in Pakistan, the commission failed to identify the individuals responsible for
Freedom of expression