No other profession demands for the sacrifice of one’s life except army whilst equally with that in South Asian context is going the profession of journalism, which demands sacrifice of life. There have been 8-12 cases of journalists’ murders only in Pakistan the past year, which is a clear indication that this ill-fated community has been facing myriad challenges and hurdles. Here it would not be futile, if said that state and non-state actors are responsible alike for obstructing the free flow of information and impartial analysis.

Once a Soviet nonconformist, Yevgeny Yevtushenko said, “when the truth is replaced by silence the silence is a lie. ”

He may have said it for the deadly silence of rulers when they prefer to stay mute especially when there is an hour of crisis, nonetheless if media remains silent then it not only comes under the category of lie but a sin also. A country without rule can go well than a country without press and media. Being impressed of the force of media one of the kings of England said that Times newspaper is powerful than river Thames. It is the fear of press that President Asif Ali has banned, “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power”–a critical book penned by Tariq Ali. As it is beyond one’s capability to check and gag the flow of information altogether then he must have faced it with open heart instead banning it. And this bane could not mitigate and gag his voice rather the ban catapulted its fame many notches higher than it could have. Going through the history of past despotic monarchs of the world, one can conclude without hesitation that they had faced failure in burying the voice of truth there must not be any uncertainty that in present age of information it will be gagged. And the people, who think that by killing those who raise the voice of truth, they will be triumphant, are badly mistaken. The voice of truth is like flowing water and flowing water makes its way through any means.

The clamant of Islam must keep in mind that it also says, “confound not truth with falsehood, and whosoever confound it, he surely, is a sinner.” Thus beyond any doubt it comes quite clear that it is the utmost duty of a journalist to provide the masses with factual information. In a society like Pakistan and many other developing countries it is possible only when one keeps his or her head at palm. In most of the developing countries the threat is more from non-state actors than governments. Still it is the splendid deed of media that it paved way for democracy in South Asia. It is media, which lashes the rulers for their lapses and voice the grievance of afflicted. It is media in Pakistan, which played a vital role in the knocking down of bigheaded Musharaf. It has been performing its duty well and dauntlessly against the military dictators since long. Many dictators tortured journalists but it was under the regime of Zia-ul-Haq, wherein they were lashed and whipped physically. Beside that many journalists were granted perks and parks but his policy of ‘carrot and stick’ could not prove a magic wand for him and the criticism goes abreast with his persecution. Though, he succeeded in corrupting many journalists and his successors also the same path but could not chock the voice of righteous and conscious.

Musharraf went ahead of him and introduced vilified tradition of ‘abduction and missing’.

During his regime hundreds of journalists mysteriously were abducted which still is a dilemma, as no one knows about their whereabouts.

Still, the dauntless journalists kept free voice up, where as Musharraf had to leave the political arena while licking his wounds. The quandary did not remain only confine to Pakistan but it also affected the entire South Asia.

One can title 2008 as a harbinger of change, as it witnessed general elections in Pakistan. The same year the Rana regime in Nepal came to an end because of the pressure from in and out of the country. In this regard different civil societies including media is worth praising.

Afghanistan is enjoying a bit little freedom but still it has to go a circuitous way against the non-state actors.

Bhutan also said adieu to the centuries-long kingdom and a swanky welcome was given to democracy. In Maldives, the 30-year long dictatorship sagged to pressure from media and other civil societies. When criticism and denigration mounted from multiple corners, at length, general elections in Maldives were held, where the despotic monarch, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom faced a drub by his rival, Ibrahim Nasir, who was journalist and an adamant critic of dictatorship. It all was, is, and would be, indebted to the blessings of media. The freedom that it has today has not been achieved in charity rather journalists watered it with their blood and liver. It is, though relatively a bit little free in west and the US, but to claim that there exists absolute freedom of press and media is no less than a myth. In the US one cannot discuss American foreign military bases, which speak volumes of its military adventurism. And similarly one cannot discuss the US and Israel close ties with a candid-pen.

As media is supposed to be fourth pillar of the state, and reaching this point media fought a long way against the elements, which trammeled its path with iron obstacles. With that change there was a great uproar and tumult not only in Pakistan but also across South Asia. If not exaggeration across the globe the situation remained the same. And 2009 has arrived in a great episode of violence. The past year remained really very much fatal for the journalists in Pakistan where at least eight journalists washed their hands of their lives. The report, issued by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, says that Pakistan had the second highest death toll for journalists after Iraq where 15 journalists hugged the lap of death. But the report of International Federation of Journalists says that 12 journalists in Pakistan sacrificed their lives in their line of duty. Both the reports are crdible but the latter report was issued recently than the former one.

During the past few years Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad were plague spots for journalists while the environment for journalists in Tribal belt and NWFP was relatively normal. These days the order seems inverted and FATA, PATA and NWFP is a black zone for journalists. Ibrahim who had been working for Express TV and Daily Express from Bajaur was silenced forever in 2008 but those who wanted to burry the voice of free conscience failed and the reporting of violence news goes constantly from that area. Another journalist, Shoaib, who had been a correspondent for Pakistan Press International (PPI) from the militant infested area Mingora, Swat, was shot dead by security forces when he was coming home, back from a hospital of the vicinity after visiting his daughter. After a great deal of resentment the security forces confessed that he was killed mistakenly. The same year Abdul Aziz from Swat linked with daily Azadi was killed in the hideouts of Taliban when the security forces pounded their havens. Allegedly he was abducted by a gang of Taliban and confined to jail until the security forces shelled the entire area.

Such is the life of journalists in the region nonetheless the threat is hovering over the heads of hundreds of journalists still they are carrying their duty out. Currently at least 200 hundred journalists have been working in tribal belt but facing an inscessant series of threats in one way or the other.

A few of them, while giving way to the menaces from state and non-state actors, have preferred to say departure to thier journalistic career. And above all is the cruelty of media owners, who have fired more than 400 journalists across Pakistan under the pretext of global financial crisis. The media owners even did not think for a while how they will feed thier innocent childern in this sheer times of materialism.

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.

The issue of terrorism during last couple of years has become a global phenomenon and has been a focal point of discussion for the national as well as international media.

But ironically it has staggered developing countries like Pakistan, instead belligerent countries.

Since 2002 to 2008 terrorism has claimed more than 16 hundred lives of Pakistanis civilians including political leaders, defense personnel and officials of law enforcing agencies in no less than one hundred and five bomb explosions including suicide attacks.

These figures are taken without the death toll ratio of the recent bomb blast in Wah cantt, attack on Badhbair Police Station, and the decimation in Bajaur agency that really shook the NWFP provincial government and for help it had to expand its begging-bowl to world community especially UNO.

And it’s no denying the fact that one of the major reasons is that it is the by-product of allying with the US in its war on terror.

The domestic political scenario has been completely destabilized and distraught by terrorism. The 12th May 2007 Karachi carnage, the frequency of bomb blasts prior to the elections, the attack on Benazir Bhutto which cost her life are all examples that we are clearly aware of.

It is interesting to mention that Pakistan internationally is perceived as “the most dangerous place in the world” but in the February 18 elections, the people of Pakistan while largely rejecting the extremist parties, plumped for the liberal, and moderate political parties of Pakistan.

Nevertheless the issue of terrorism has become complicated in Pakistan where the newly elected government of Pakistan is facing a lot of internal and external pressures. Right after the elections, the first blow that the new government received was the incident of suicide bomb blast in the FIA office at Lahore that perished the lives of at least 25 people including 13 FIA officials.

Moreover a suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 19 in an attack on a Pakistan naval college in the eastern city of Lahore.

The counter-terrorist strategies employed over the last few years particularly in FATA are a bleak example of the challenges of combating terrorism in Pakistan. The Pakistani military operations have hardly helped to counter the enemy. Other than the loss of hundreds of soldiers, the traditional form of governance in the tribal areas has been disturbed; the local population has been alienated; while their remains lack of support from the remaining Pakistani population.

The year between May 3, 2007 and May 3, 2008 for the media in Pakistan, was the worst ever in the country’s sixty-one years history. This year proved fatal and venomous for hundreds of journalists.

For at least fifteen journalists were murdered in the line of duty across the country, three hundred and fifty seven were arrested, and one hundred and twenty three sustained injuries in physical assaults, one hundred and fifty four were menaced while there were 18 cases of attacks and ransacking of media properties and 88 cases of various gag orders issued by the government and different religious factions.

This was the year in which, physical violence touched the life of around 700 journalists while the fear of it haunted many hundreds of others

Islamabad emerged as the ‘media threat capital’ of Pakistan, the place most dangerous in the country to practice journalism with no less than 143 of the 368 cases of various categories of menaces of the media were recorded.

On the one hand the Pakistani media has always highlighted unjustified actions done by the coalition forces and the Pakistan army in northern areas of Pakistan and on the other it has never been hesitant to expose the unjustified actions of extremist either they are Taliban or hardliner religious elements of Pakistan. This however has not been easy.

Sitting at a far distance from the tribal areas, it is easy to express views regarding extremism and present remedies for its solution but its hard enough to give a fair and balanced report while living among them because the self-imposed religious leaders gag the right of objective reporting and the tribal feel themselves insecure if they gang their own way while seeping information to the media men. Homegrown problems need homegrown solutions and who knows better a solution than local journalists but it is near to impossibility for a journalist to give a fair analysis of the present circumstances prevailing in the region at the cost of his life or his family members. Moreover the government itself does not want to keep them at the center of schemes adopted for combating this issue in FATA.

But simultaneously it is unfair to say that the entire tribal and the capital city Peshawar is bolstering up the terrorism.

No doubt in FATA the religious factions have adopted a new system for achieving their objectives and the entire tribal population is forced to raise slogans for that brand of Islam, which is defender to their interests.

Every elder of the family is forced to raise a specific flag on the corner of their houses lest they are fined for Rs 5000.

More than 84 houses have been fined for its violations and the extremists have demolished 34 houses but no body can complain about it. Even the political candidates were unable to stage public meetings for their political campaign during the elections. Thus one can realize how much they are powerful in FATA but at the same time it is worth mentioning that the extremists have lost public support.

It is important for the newly elected government to gain its ground. The media can assist the current democratic government as a mediator between the different stakeholders to identify the key sources and roots of the issue. At the same time the safety and security of journalists who are working in such difficult circumstances must be taken into account by the government and the owners of media organizations. Because free media and democracy are correlative so is the security of journalists for an independent and nourishing media.

Two western and three Afghan teachers participated in the latest round of blogging workshops. Mr. Martin (German journalist) who was supposed to teach in the first day of workshop, unfortunately failed to do so due to an illness. In the second day, first hours were dedicated to theoretical issues, in which Mr. Jeffrey Estern (young American journalist) approached weblog phenomenon from a western and modern-world perspective. Mr. Jeffrey compared visual and print media with blogging and evaluated the influence of blogging on public opinions, politics and other media, and said: “In our country, i.e. United States, along with three constitutional powers, Media is the fourth power which monitors activities of government. However, there was no body to supervise the media. After years and with the introduction of technology and internet, Weblog came into existence. Today, weblogs supervise the media, so that there have been several cases in which bloggers revealed misinformation of some prominent journalists who were consequently fired from their positions.”

After some theoretical discussions, the rest of the second day was dedicated to practical issues. According to directors, main goal of such workshops is to turn this new phenomenon into a public one so as to ensure that everybody practices the right of free speech with no censorship. Since increasing pressures of Information and Culture Ministry has led to more censorship by e-media and private TV channels, weblog may be a better choice to experience free speech as well as institutionalizing this principle in the Afghan society.

This was the second blogging workshop held in Afghanistan, and Association of Afghan Blog Writers is supposed to run similar workshops in other cities such as Herat, Mazar- Sharif, Jalalabad, Kandehar, Bamyian and Daikundi.

Blogging is an absolutely new phenomenon in Afghanistan and most of the people do not take it professionally. Therefore, such workshops directed by Association of Afghan Blog Writers may speed up the process of professionalization and facilitate it for Afghan bloggers. Today most of the youth and students have turned to this phenomenon. Though having access to internet is very problematic, the Afghan youth increasingly turn to weblog and blogging, and the number of Afghan weblogs is increasing. Up to now, more than 20,000 Afghan weblogs have been registered by Afghan people in various countries and through various blog service providers, such as Blogger, wordpress, Blogfa, Persianblog.

Barriers to the Way of Afghan Bloggers

Afghan bloggers have to deal with a wide range of problems. Due to recent controversies over Dari (Farsi) and after two correspondents in Mazar-e Sharif were sacked just for using Dari equivalents of ‘University’ and ‘Student’, Afghan Telecom has blocked two popular Persian blogger sites: Persianblog and Blogfa. Some believe that such acts are the continuation of fight of Abdul Karim Khoram(minister of Information and Culture) against Dari Persian.

On the other hand, there is the problem of power shortage. In spite of Hamid Karzai ruling for several years and presence of International Community in Afghanistan, Kabul inhabitants still do not have access to power. Power is available only 6 hours per day, and suffers fluctuations. This problem may be a big barrier to the way of Afghan bloggers and prevent them from updating their blogs.

Help Promote Free Speech

Directors of the project believe that turning this new phenomenon (i.e. Weblog) into a public issue between Afghan youth and writers can help the free speech and institutionalize democracy in Afghanistan. Today many emerging journals claim ‘independence and being free’, but they are unfortunately so associated with political trends and parties that practically come to experience self-censorship. Very often it happens that they fail to publish critical papers. On the other hand, Afghan journals and media have taken an opposition stance and the only thing they may criticize is the government, while there is a myriad of hot and sensitive issues happening all around Afghanistan neglected by such journals and media. Weblog enables the writer to publish his thoughts and criticisms freely and independently, using either real name or nom de plume.

Despite media attentions and their journalism tumults, Afghanistan is full of banned realms, untold problems, and political, cultural and visual taboos.

Afghan Press does not claim to break these taboos in this rioted situation, but tries to reflect the untold of Afghanistan, having its doctrine, written articles, analysis and its special points of view.

Afghan Press, as an electronic newspaper, intends to reflect, analyze and evaluate Afghanistan news and related problems with a professional and journalism outlook.

Therefore, we will try to provide a “narration from inside” about culture, media, politics, political parties, economics, and higher educations for whom are wise and interested in Afghanistan’s affairs, and especially local compatriots. We are not related to any political tendencies or parties and won’t preach any special ideology or doctrine. We love this land and wish less suffering and more comfort for its habitants.

We respect comments and tender criticism of wise people. Divine grace, friends’ aspiration and consensus, comments and criticisms of concerned readers are our companions.

Q: You have been involved with Afghan Press too. What is this project about?

Afghan Press was built in order to give accurate local news to people abroad. I am the director.

As you know, we don’t have online media to provide news to the world independently. Every day we hear bad news of explosions, suicide attacks, road bombings, killings, robberies in Afghanistan, but there is no one to provide information on social issues, women’s issues, education, music, literature, culture and Afghan traditions.

When I read the news, I feel sorry for myself and wonder why our country and our people are defined as violent and tough people. I want to explain through Afghan Press that we are no different from the rest of the world; that we are forgotten, and you need to remember us today.

Read the full interview here.