Even as separatist leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan have increased the outreach of their campaigns, the local media in these provinces continues to face restrictions on ground reporting from conflict areas. Separatist leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have argued that as long as fair reportage is not allowed, it will not be possible for the international community to unanimously believe in their charges against the establishment. However, the lack of a free press in conflict regions cannot be singularly attributed to the Pakistan government since there have also been reports of use of violence against journalists by militants active in the country.
Aurangzeb Khan Zalmay, founder of Pashtun Times, an online news portal that reports about issues of Pashtuns in Asia, explained at length about the challenges that Pashtun journalists face in efficiently reporting the circumstances from the ground. He said, “I can tell you that ‘Pashtunland’ inside Pakistan is a no-go area for foreign journalists and local journalists as well. In Pakistan, Pashtuns have no print or electronic media outlets. Only social media has been operational and our activists on social media, too, are facing a shutdown. The military and civil bureaucracies, as well as the civilian government are all on one page. If someone dares to show the real face of the ‘garrison state’ to the world, the next day he or she will either be killed or go missing.”
Taking cognizance of a report that The Sunday Guardian had done two weeks ago about an incident of alleged use of chemical weapons against Pashtun families by the Pakistan army, Zalmay said, “Yes, I am familiar with that incident. The local people here know about it too. But this is our restriction that such human rights violation occurs in broad daylight and yet the world did not know about it. Only those who could read our language could understand the social media campaign that was done to financially support that family. If media is allowed to freely collect information from the ground, it will obviously have more authenticity for foreign observers.” Zalmay is in Germany at present and is finishing his higher education.
Highlighting known instances of atrocities against Pashtun reporters, Zalmay said, “Read what happened to Hayatullah Khan Dawar, who was a local journalist from Miranshah (North Waziristan). Others like Mukaram Khan (Mohmond Agency), Mehboob Afridi (Khyber Agency), Muhammad Umar (D.I. Khan), Zaman Mehsud (South Waziristan) are all people who suffered at the hands of Pakistan’s army.”
Zalmay said, “There are many other such stories that I can narrate about how the Pakistan army is involved in killing innocent Pashtuns in Waziristan and also in the rest of the Pashtunland.”
Washington-based media watchdog Freedom House’s 2016 report on Pakistan deems the country as “Not Free” in terms of press freedom. The report’s overview said, “While the rate of media workers’ killings has declined somewhat in recent years, the number and intensity of threats directed at journalists from a variety of actors, including the military and intelligence agencies and militant groups, remained high in 2015. Impunity remained the norm for crimes against journalists.” The report also took into account the following developments: In August 2015, Pakistan’s broadcast regulator issued new guidelines that limited discussions of security operations and other sensitive topics; in November 2015, reporter Zaman Mehsud of the Daily Ummat and Daily Nai Baat was shot and killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The report also said that “Journalists with Pakistan’s largest private television network, Geo TV, and its affiliated outlets remained frequent targets of violence and intimidation.”
In October 2015, for the first time, the Pakistan government allowed the media to enter North Waziristan since “Operation Zarb-e-Azb” started in 2014. “Operation Zarb-e-Azb” is the Pakistan army’s war with militants in the region.