Reporter Sadaf Naeem was tragically crushed to death under a political lorry container while covering Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march in Kamoke on October 30. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), in condemning the lack of security measures for journalists reporting on political rallies and calls on the Pakistani government and news outlets to ensure every effort is made to guarantee the safety of media workers reporting in the field.
With Taliban officials set to make changes in the culture and religious sections of media books and revise the mass media law in the country, the condition of media personnel in Afghanistan is likely to get worse.
Senior journalist and president of the Shorkot Press Club, Muhammad Younis, was killed by two gunmen in the Punjab province on August 27. The same day, Punjab police initiated an investigation into Geo News journalist Waqar Satti for alleged blasphemy and defamation. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the heinous assassination of Muhammad Younis and calls for stronger measures to protect journalists.
The Indian Journalists Union, in its letter to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, highlighted that attacks against journalists under the Taliban regime had gone up.
Ahead of the anniversary of Taliban s takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan s capital on August 15, IFJ Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear, who has been co-ordinating the federation s emergency response to the situation in Afghanistan, tells us about a year of relentless work to support and evacuate journalists and their families, the ongoing media repression on the ground, the amazing solidarity among world journalists and the urgent need to raise more funds.