Legislating on the protection of Pakistan’s journalists
https://arab.news/vadbj
Pick up any report - local or international - on the state of the freedom of press in Pakistan and you’ll find an oft-repeated account of state control and censorship of information, and more worryingly, of intimidation, harassment, assault and the killing of journalists. Statistics lay bare a frightening reality: Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the practice of journalism. In the last 20 years, more than 131 journalists have been killed in the line of duty (Freedom Network) and 148 cases of violence against journalists have been reported between May 2020 to April 2021 (Pakistan Press Freedom Report 2021). The World Press Freedom Index – based on an assessment of media pluralism, independence, legislative framework, transparency, and security of journalists – ranks Pakistan 145 out of 180 countries in the world.
Against this backdrop, the federal government’s introduction of the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill in the National Assembly last week may come as a welcome and important development. The proposed law aims to ensure the protection of the life and security of journalists, to guarantee their right to privacy and confidentiality, while at the same time ensuring their impartiality and independence. This is a tall order!
More specifically, the bill imposes an obligation on the government to ensure that journalists and media professionals are protected against forced or involuntary disappearances, kidnapping, abduction coercion, threats, intimidation, harassment or fear of persecution (sections 3 and 8), from all forms of abuse, violence and exploitation (section 7) and from unlawful or arbitrary interferences to their right to privacy and confidentiality of sources (section 4).
The scope of such protection is, however, limited to those journalists who are “professionally and permanently engaged” by a newspaper, a magazine news website or other news broadcast medium. Freelance journalists, bloggers and v-loggers have been arbitrarily excluded from the ambit of the proposed law. Similarly only “regularly employed” media professionals - cameramen, publishers, interpreters etc - have the benefit of the protections provided under the bill.
The bill reads much like a statement of principles and does not lay down a holistic framework for implementation. Although the state’s recognition of the need to ensure security and protection to journalists is to be appreciated, the bill in its current form leaves much to be desired.
Sahar Bandial
The proposed law provides for the establishment of an independent “Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals” comprised of members nominated by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the National and provincial press clubs, and representatives of the Ministries of Human Rights and Information and Broadcasting. The Commission is tasked with the responsibility to receive and determine complaints from journalists, reporters or media personnel of violations of the protections and guarantees provided in the bill. Upon receipt of a complaint with regard to acts of “abuse, violence or intolerant behaviour” against journalists, the Commission is bound to take “all necessary actions to investigate and prosecute such acts” and “take appropriate measures to provide protection.” The Commission must also conduct “impartial, thorough, independent and effective investigation” into reports of threats, abuse, violence or coercion of journalists, and ensure that those aggrieved have “access to effective and adequate remedies,” and legal aid, where required.
The bill imposes an onerous burden on the Commission but remains silent on how it is to carry out its mandate. What do “necessary actions” or “appropriate measures” entail? Do “effective and adequate remedies,” let’s say in a case of coercion, include criminal prosecution, and reparation and rehabilitation of the aggrieved? How does the Commission liaise with the State’s criminal justice system? Can the Commission direct the police to register an FIR, and thereafter oversee the investigation process or where required to provide protective security to journalists or their families? Are State authorities bound to comply with the directions of the Commission subject to penalty for non-compliance?
These questions remain unanswered. The bill has no provision empowering the Commission with rule making powers so as to devise mechanisms for its functioning . This is a gaping lacuna in the proposed law.
The grant to the Commission of powers of a civil court with regard to the summoning of witnesses, production of documents and receiving of evidence, may be of little consequence given the ambiguity surrounding implementation of the lofty ideals articulated in the bill.
The bill reads much like a statement of principles and does not lay down a holistic framework for implementation. Although the state’s recognition of the need to ensure security and protection to journalists is to be appreciated, the bill in its current form leaves much to be desired.
– Sahar Zareen Bandial is an Advocate of the High Courts and a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, LUMs. She has a keen interest in gender issues and has worked extensively in the area of legislative drafting.
