A good will gesture by Taliban

In a good will gesture to initiate a dialogue process with the government, Pakistani Taliban killed Mukarram Khan Atif, who worked for Voice of America and Dunya TV. It added a serious dimension to the issue of journalists’ protection in the region.

The media professionals, particularly working in northwestern region of Pakistan, have often received obscured threats from militants. However, this time Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) openly claimed the responsibility for the murder of Mukarram Khan.

Those media professionals working in the conflict areas became vulnerable to be pursued anywhere, after the Taliban threatened to kill more journalists. They are targeting people far from the battle zones as was happened in Charsadda where Mukarram was shot dead.

The dynamic targeting of journalists by the Taliban will not only have repercussions for the safety of media professionals working in war zones. With serious results particularly in terms of abuses that may never come to light, the northwest region could become new black out zone in coming days.

The media watchdog organizations put Pakistan at top on the impunity index. In their view, Pakistan is a place where journalists are not only killed but with complete impunity. The law enforcement agencies constantly refrained from carrying out credible probes or prosecutions into the killings of media professionals.

With such brutal acts, the Taliban and militants are making happy those who want to suppress flow of information in Pakistan. One of the major concerns is that the state has a soft corner for extremist groups and hard-liners.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in latest carnage of Khanpur, on last Sunday, stated that the government and law enforcement agencies failed to eliminate sectarian violence in the country.

It observed, “And it is clear that this happens because nearly all institutions of the state have a soft corner for religious extremism”.

The state organs should concern about security of the other sections of the society particularly media. With obtaining objectivity, we should show the true picture of Taliban including their barbarism and brutality.

The militant groups will continue to target all those who are vocal about their activities if we do not become united against the root cause.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=9859

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 20 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.