The line of deadly duty: Journalists in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2020

It is difficult to forget Mirwais Jalil, a 25-year old colleague at the BBC who was kidnapped and murdered on July 29, 1994 near Kabul during the civil war between the mujahideen groups vying for power. 

His factual reporting had made combatants on all sides angry, but he persisted with his work despite being advised by myself and other well-wishers to stay away from the front lines.

It is 26 years later, but such killings continue. Five Afghan journalists were killed by unidentified attackers in the last two months of 2020, even as media freedom is rightly hailed as an achievement in the post-Taliban period. Among those killed was Malala Maiwand, a woman TV presenter who was also a representative of the Center for Protection of Women Journalists. 

I have witnessed the curbs placed on the media in Afghanistan during the dictatorial communist, mujahideen and Taliban rule from 1978 to 2001. In those days, foreign radio broadcasts were the main source of information and one regularly saw dozens of men listening to a single radio set placed in a hujra (male guesthouse) every evening and morning to get credible news. 

So many names come to mind while recalling colleagues killed in the line of duty in Pakistan. 

Among them were Nasrullah Afridi, Musa Khankhel and Hayatullah, who risked their lives to report from conflict zones. 

It was nerve-wracking to see Afridi’s charred body after his car parked near our Peshawar office was blown up by hidden explosives. As these incidents are never properly investigated, it gives rise to impunity and the killings continue. 

It was nerve-wracking to see Afridi’s charred body after his car parked near our Peshawar office was blown up by hidden explosives. As these incidents are never properly investigated, it gives rise to impunity and the killings continue. 

Rahimullah Yusufzai

While reporting on the conflict in Afghanistan since 1978 and in northwestern Pakistan from 2001 onwards, I was warned and threatened by different parties in the conflicts and even fired at. But with age comes maturity, and the urge to survive became the guiding principle of the work I did. Most journalists started practicing self-censorship when reporting on sensitive issues to avoid harm. Others took sides while seeking protection or for self-interest. 

Though Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed Pakistani media enjoys more freedom than in any other country, the truth is different. The Freedom Network, which in its 2019-2020 report recorded 91 attacks against journalists in one year, noted that Khan’s cabinet didn’t discuss journalists’ safety issues in 62 of its meetings from September 2018 to January 2020, even though seven journalists and one blogger were killed during this period, six were abducted, legal cases were filed against another 15, and 135 violations against media practitioners were documented.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, but 2020 was exceptional not only due to the danger to their lives but also the economic fallout of the pandemic that rendered many jobless.

Pakistan has alternated between democratic to military rule in its 73 years’ existence, but journalists have invariably remained under pressure to toe the line not only during the rule of military dictators, but also democratically elected leaders. 

In April 2020, Reporters Without Borders mentioned Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines and Bangladesh as the ‘world’s deadliest countries for journalists and bloggers.’ In its 2020 Press Freedom Index, Afghanistan dropped to 122 from its previous ranking of 121. 

In its latest report, Reporters Without Borders highlighted murders in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico and India to show the increase in the targeting of reporters investigating organized crime, corruption and environmental issues. It noted that 50 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in connection with their work mostly in countries that are not at war. 

A large number of Afghan journalists quit the profession due to the threat to their lives and the inability of the once thriving, largely foreign-funded media houses, to retain workers. 

NAI — an Organization Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan — reported that over a thousand women journalists left the job since 2014 for various reasons, including targeted killings, gender discrimination and low wages. 

The beleaguered Afghan government is helpless in stopping the killings of journalists and other prominent Afghans including politicians, clerics and civil society activists. 

Acting information minister Tahir Zahir held the Taliban responsible for the attacks on journalists and called on the UN and European Union to put pressure on militant groups to stop the killing of people in media. In the same breath, he said it was the ministry of interior’s responsibility to ensure the security of all citizens including journalists. 

In Pakistan, the media crisis began in June 2018 when the federal government cut advertisements to print media from Rs2.5 billion annually to Rs1.6 billion as the economy went into a recession. Major private advertisers also reduced their advertising budget. Media houses that had invested heavily and hired new people started sacking them. One estimate put those sacked at over 3,000 in print and 2,000 in electronic media. 

The government owes Rs2.5 billion as outstanding advertisement dues to the media industry, but has delayed payment despite promises. The journalists’ unions blame both the government and the media houses for the crisis, arguing that the former had cracked down on independent media and dissenting journalists while the latter was using the financial crisis as an excuse to close down publications, fire employees and cut wages. 

COVID-19 also undermined press freedom. The International Press Institute said the measures taken by governments to control the public narrative and cover up their inadequacies curbed the media’s capacity to work independently. 

It noted that 107 cases of press freedom violations were reported from four South Asian countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. 

There is hope that the Pakistani media will recover due to a rise in its revenues, but the issue of restrictions on its freedom will continue to haunt journalists. 
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The situation is less hopeful in Afghanistan, where a shrinking economy and rising violence will continue to impact a media community that has long suffered.
*Rahimullah Yusufzai is a senior political and security analyst in Pakistan. He was the first to interview Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and twice interviewed Osama Bin Laden in 1998. Twitter: @rahimyusufzai1