Freedom in Solidarity

Media Working for Peace in South Asia

United States Institute of Peace

 F r e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

CONTENTS Freedom in Solidarity:

Media Working for
1. Introduction 1 Peace in South Asia

Concept, Research and Writing:

2. Bangladesh: Political Polarisation Feeds Media Partisanship 7 Sukumar Muralidharan, Laxmi Murthy,
The Amar Desh case 12 Jacqueline Park

3. India: Problems Persist Despite Strong Foundations 14 Editorial and Administrative Assistance:
Deborah Muir, Claire O’Rourke,
Manipur: Safeguarding Media Autonomy 17 Cameron Durnsford

Special thanks to:

4. Nepal: Protecting a Fledgling Democracy 23 Mazhar Abbas
Missions save lives 26 Khurshid Abbasi
Big Brother’s long arm 29 Govinda Acharya
Yousaf Ali
5. Pakistan: Journalism Under Stress 31 Tanka Aryal
Flogging the Media 33 Suraj Bhattarai
Press Clubs: Platforms for the Media Community 35 Bharat Bhushan
Shujaat Bukhari
Ramjee Dahal
6. Sri Lanka: Post War Challenges and a Polarised Media 39
Taranath Dahal
Tissainayagam’s conviction 42
Sunanda Deshapriya
Mawbima:Targeted for seeking to report for all 46
Muhammad Farouk
Hana Ibrahim
7. Conclusions and Recommendations 47 Dharmendra Jha
Poshan KC
Tareq Mahamud
Kanchana Marasinghe
Kamrul Hasan Monju
Shamsul Islam Naz
This document has been produced by the International Federation of Journalists
Bishnu Nisthuri
(IFJ) on behalf of partners and affiliates.
S.K. Pande
Pradip Phanjoubam
All India Newspapers Employees’ Federation Sobhapati Samom
All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union Pervaiz Shaukat
Bangladesh Freedom Watch Rai Hussnain Tahir

Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum K.K. Vasudevan

Chhattisgarh Shramjeevi Patrakar Sangh

Designed and printed by: Impulsive Creations
Dhaka Reporters’ Unity
Delhi Union of Journalists
Published on behalf of the South Asia Media
Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions, Sri Lanka Solidarity Network (SAMSN) by the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific. No part
Federation of Nepali Journalists
of this publication may be reproduced in any form
Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka without the written permission of the publisher. The
contents of this book are copyrighted and the rights
Indian Journalists’ Union to use contributions rest with the author.
Kashmir Press Guild
October 2010
Massline Media Centre, Bangladesh
Media Watch, Bangladesh
National Union of Journalists, India
National Union of Journalists, Nepal
Nepal Press Union
Pakistan Press Foundation
This document has been carried out with support
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association The opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this report are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the United States Institute of Peace.
 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

INTRODUCTION
bol k lab azad hain tere Speak, for your two lips are free; and a Maoist insurgency spread across five states. All these
bol zaban ab tak teri hai Speak, your tongue is still your own; situations confront journalists with an unrelenting set
tera sutawan jism hai tera This straight body still is yours— of challenges, and the responses have been varied and
bol k jan ab tak teri hai Speak, your life is still your own. creative.
Other countries in South Asia are undergoing complex
dekh k ahangar k dukan main See how in the blacksmith’s forge and multi-dimensional political transitions. Pakistan
tund hain shole surkh hai ahan Flames leap high and steel glows red, and Nepal went through nation-wide elections in early
khulne lage quflon k dhane Padlocks open wide their jaws, 2008 that promised a transformation of their mode of
phaila har ek zanjir ka daman Every chain’s embrace outspread! governance. Journalists’ unions in both countries were a
key element in the alliances that changed the course of
bol ye thora waqt bahot hai Time enough is this brief hour politics, impelling despotic regimes – of a military stripe in
jism-o-zaban k maut se pahle Until body and tongue lie dead; one case and monarchical in the other – to stand aside and
bol k sach zinda hai ab tak Speak, for truth is living yet— allow democratic forces to occupy political centre stage.
bol jo kuch kahna hai kah le Speak whatever must be said. Nepal’s newly elected Constituent Assembly has since
failed to deliver on its promise to enact a Republican
Bol (Speak), by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (V G Kiernan translation) Constitution for the nation by May 2010. Two
governments have held office, both after complex processes

T
he media in South Asia are engaged in a difficult of bargaining between parties that are otherwise bitterly
balancing act in coping with the momentous opposed. The pact between all the parties, that both
changes under way in the region. All countries in the governance and constitution writing would be undertaken
region could be described as transitional societies. Although on the principle of consensus, was breached immediately
the five countries that are covered in this report differ in after the elections. And since the resignation of the second
the specifics, they show sufficient elements of commonalty government to take office after the historic national
– not least because of their shared histories – to allow for a elections of 2008, Nepal has waited long and so far in vain
common regional strategy that addresses the issue of media for a successor administration.
freedom as a vital element in the apparatus of conflict Pakistan went through a major struggle in 2007, to
resolution. effect a transition to an elected government. The coalition
This volume brings together the results of research government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
conducted by the International Federation of Journalists has since, in partial recognition of the role played by
(IFJ) with its affiliates and partners, to focus squarely on journalists in restoring democracy, rolled back many of the
the role of journalists’ organisations and their capacity to worst laws and procedures introduced by the preceding
respond collectively in crises involving media freedom. military administration. But it remains hobbled by
There have been numerous cases of successful collective Pakistan’s unique situation in global geopolitical equations.
action by journalists’ organisations caught in conflict Pakistan’s destiny has always been entwined with two
situations. Equally, there have been instances where among its immediate neighbours – India and Afghanistan.
collective action has fallen short of envisaged targets. The situation in Afghanistan today casts a long shadow
The research seeks to draw out several such events and knit over Pakistan. To add to the instability induced by the
them together to develop a set of strategies for the defence large-scale settlement of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
of media freedom in situations of conflict. Province (previously North-West Frontier Province),
India, the largest country in the region, has a fairly Tribal Areas and Balochistan by elements of the Afghan
stable political system underpinned by a broad consensus Taliban, the Pashtun and Baloch regions of the country
among all parties and institutions on the rules of the game. are in a state of ferment, often refusing to accept the writ
But its economy, recognised as an “emerging” presence of the federal government. Journalists have kept up their
in the new global order, is going through a significant struggle for decent wages and working conditions and for
structural transformation, engendering opportunities and the overarching imperatives of safety and security. These
threat perceptions through virtually all strata. Though have had significant successes. But the big media houses
India is potentially, on account of its size and diversity, have been lukewarm in their support. And as in Nepal, the
the hub for much of the region’s economic activity, this is broad alliance with other civil society groups that made the
a potential that remains largely unrealised because of the movement for the democratic restoration a notable success,
security anxieties that bedevil its relations with every other has come asunder after the immediate goal was attained.
country in the neighbourhood. Within India, tensions Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war produced a deep and
continue to simmer in Jammu and Kashmir. Numerous bitter polarisation within civil society and the media. There
insurgencies of an ethnic orientation actively operate in were notable efforts during the worst days of the conflict to
its north-eastern states and the central region witnesses assert the rights of journalists to report as they see things,
violent encounters almost daily between security forces irrespective of communal identity. The ceasefire that was

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Journalists in South Asia suffer threats of

physical assault in their daily routine and
are occasionally the targets of murderous
violence as with the suicide bombing of the
Peshawar Press Club. They face a crisis
of livelihood and often have to take to the
streets to defend their rights to fair wages
and decent working conditions.
(photos by special arrangement and
courtesy: PFUJ, United News of India)

declared by both sides to the conflict in 2002 provided new resulted in a decisive victory for the Awami League, civil
opportunities for journalists’ organisations to build their society and the media have remained bitterly divided by
collective solidarity and construct platforms for cross- the rivalry between the two parties and their inability to
communal campaigns. But efforts to reform state-owned agree on how the essential institutions for a functioning
media made little progress, though it was recognised as a democracy – such as the judiciary and the election
priority area for action by several major stakeholders in commission – should function. Meanwhile, trials for war
the political system. When the civil war resumed with new crimes committed during the country’s national liberation
virulence in 2006, journalists’ organisations kept up their war of 1971 have begun, shortly after five of the assassins
collective actions to establish a climate conducive to free of the country’s founding Prime Minister, Sheikh Mujibur
and fair reporting. The indifference of media owners, their Rahman, were executed. Politics has remained unsettled
willingness to be co-opted into the Government’s “with since the return of civilian government and the prospects
us or against us” attitude, and the insistent propaganda for greater turbulence are strong. But civil society seemingly
churned out by state-owned media during the renewed has endorsed both the execution of the Mujib assassins for
hostilities, were formidable obstacles. Journalists’ bodies a crime committed in 1975 and the commencement of the
proved vulnerable in the new environment of media war crimes trials. Observers in Bangladesh believe that this
suppression, especially since a number of their key leaders could have a moderating effect on the bitter polarisation
were targeted and forced into silence or exile. of the media community, though they take nothing for
The experiences of Sri Lanka though, embody valuable granted.
lessons for journalists’ organisations in South Asia, as
also elsewhere. Diverse Discourses
After nearly two years under a military-backed With the exception of Bangladesh, all the countries
“caretaker” administration, Bangladesh made the transition covered in this report are linguistically diverse. Diversity
to an elected government early in 2009. The months of of languages leads to a segmentation of media audiences
emergency rule were tough on politics as conventionally and potentially the creation of different discourses within
practised. Both major parties were almost rendered non- different communities. Although these countries all have
functional by the imprisonment of their leaderships at a significant English language media presence, the impact
various levels, though they sprang back to life with the of the English language is patchy and uneven. In India,
formal announcement of the election schedule for the the English language media is large and growing. It caters
national parliament. But ever since the elections, which to the demographic groups at the upper end of the scale

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of income and wealth and thus attracts the most lucrative polarisation between communities living in the valley and
advertising. The same is true, though to a lesser degree, the hills. Inevitably, the political tension between these
for Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But in Bangladesh and Nepal, communities played itself out in the media, seriously
English language media remains relatively small in its impeding journalists’ freedom to operate.
diffusion relative to the population. Its influence stems
from the fact that it is read by the upper strata and provides Media and Social Status
the basic information for the external world to form its The media’s social moorings also come into question
understanding of events in these countries. when significant public policy issues are discussed, as
The English language media in the region tends to be for instance, affirmative action for those historically
strongly moored in the interests of a relatively narrow disadvantaged under the Indian caste hierarchy. In 2006,
and affluent strata of the population. This obviously is just when such a public debate was under way in India,
a different phenomenon than the rootedness of other a survey in Delhi found that 80 per cent of journalists
language media in their respective cultural communities. with any sort of influence over news priorities – from
Often, when this form of cultural segmentation overlaps light to moderate to decisive – came from the upper tiers
with the fault lines in the national polity, the media gets of the caste hierarchy. There were few among them from
pulled into the conflict as an accessory on one or the the Dalits and the “Other Backward Classes” – sections
other side. A case in point would be the civil disturbances of the population considered to be “excluded” under the
that broke out in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir caste ideology. And the religious minorities also went
between July and August 2008 over a controversial land under-represented in proportion to their share in the total
allotment to a religious trust. The two distinct cultural population.1
regions of the state were polarised in their responses. As In Sri Lanka, the social moorings of media organisations
a consequence, the media in the Kashmir region came and the character of the audience they address have
in for widespread criticism in Jammu for supposedly a crucial bearing. The picture here is stark, since the
inflammatory and exaggerated reporting, while the
Jammu media was condemned in the Kashmir region for
1 See Aloke Thakore, “Breaking into the Media”, The Hoot, June 12, 2006,
its supposed insensitivity. This polarisation infected the and “Caste matters in the Indian media”, The Hindu, June 3, 2006. For a
English media as much as it did the local language media. broader discussion of the debate on affirmative action, including the role
of the media, see “Reservations: The Die is Caste”, The Little Magazine,
A virtually identical scenario was enacted in the north- Volume VI, Numbers 4 and 5, 2006 (copies available for purchase online
eastern Indian state of Manipur early in 2010, with a sharp at http://www.littlemag.com/reservation/printmag.html).

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violent quarter-century-long confrontation between the such as lawyers, which multiplied the effectiveness of
Government and Tamil insurgents continues to cast a their interventions. But the broader alliance has not been
shadow, though the hostilities were formally declared over sustained since the immediate objective was achieved in
in May 2009. The character of this polarisation has been 2008. Pakistan’s apex union of journalists has campaigned
reflected within the media too. In recent years a third hard to secure the implementation of the statutory wage
dimension has been added to this hitherto bipolar conflict award announced in 2001, as also to ensure additional
in the perceptions of the Muslim community, which has safety measures for journalists working in conflict zones.
increasingly been caught in a bind between The tools of mass agitation and in the extreme case – a
two unrelenting combatants. Here too, the situation for the boycott or a collective cessation of work – have often been
media was grim. It got sucked into the hostilities and lost used, with partial success.
its sense of detachment from the interests of the belligerent Unlike other countries in South Asia, Bangladesh does
parties, rendering it ineffective as an instrument that could not have the problem of an active insurgency, except on
work toward conflict resolution. a minor scale in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the south-
This is a long-running problem with the media in Sri western administrative division of Khulna. The primary
Lanka. As mentioned in a study of the island nation’s source of conflict here is the deeply polarised political
media in 2003, there is very little cross-cultural reporting. environment, with civil society institutions, including
Every media organisation thinks its mission fulfilled if journalists’ bodies, riven by loyalties to rival political
it caters to the interests and tastes of its own narrow parties. Threats and physical hazards are a major concern
linguistic group or socio-economic stratum. Where there for journalists from the south-western districts. Khulna
is an element of cross-cultural media attention, it is often division – one of the six main administrative units of
“intended to demonstrate pejorative aspects of the other Bangladesh – has witnessed the most dangerous working
ethnicity”.2 Things began to change towards the later conditions for journalists in the country. Indeed, the
years of the war with journalists’ organisations making phenomenon of “terrorism”, involving both targeted and
conscious choices to ensure that their professional work random acts of violence against media workers and other
reflected broad concerns other than those of their own civilians, perhaps began in this area. The threats persist to
communities. These invariably invited censure and in this day, with both Islamic groups and radical left-wing
several cases, persecution and violent retribution by groups contributing to a pervasive sense of insecurity
those in government. But with the end of active combat, within the media.
media professionals are seeking to build a new idiom of Nepal has seen the depths of media unfreedom in
reporting that goes beyond narrow community identities the last ten years and emerged from the experience with
and addresses the concerns of the nation’s minorities fairly greatly enhanced capacity to appreciate the benefits of
and equitably. Formidable obstacles remain, not least in the a free media and to fight for it. In February 2005, when
efforts of the incumbent regime to change the subject: from King Gyanendra made his final pitch for absolute power,
social justice to economic development as the main priority the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) was one of the
of post-war Sri Lanka. first to condemn the action and call it for what it was: a
coup against democracy. In the ensuing period, several
Zones of Risk journalists, including some of the FNJ’s top elected
In Pakistan, the overt conflict that has been going on officials, were imprisoned. Censorship was absolute.
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Balochistan and the Beginning March 2006, with the royal absolutism
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has taken a heavy pressured by an unrelenting Maoist insurgency, democratic
toll of journalists. Yet the zones of overt conflict are not the forces began to mobilise for a fight-back, in which the
only places where journalists are at risk. Local power groups media community, spearheaded by the FNJ, the Nepal
and state security agencies are often known to threaten and Press Union (NPU) and the National Journalists’ Union
attack journalists who report on certain of their activities of Nepal (NJUN), played a significant role. Great moral
which transgress the borderline of legality. As in Sri Lanka capital accrued to the media community when the king
during the worst days of its civil war, violence in Pakistan was finally compelled to cede his absolute powers and
has acquired a random quality and the targets are chosen – reinstate the national assembly. This moral capital was well
as with the bombing of the iconic Data Ganj Baksh mosque expended. The media community succeeded in a lobbying
in Lahore in July 2010 – with maximum intent to cause both effort to get significant amendments incorporated into
moral and material damage. Nepal’s Working Journalists’ Act, which ensured that all
Journalists’ organisations were at the forefront of the journalists would be employed under defined conditions
struggle for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. In of remuneration and job security, and would benefit
this effort, they managed to strike a broad alliance with from an ongoing commitment by media organisations to
media owners and editors, and other professional groups professional skills development. A right to information
law was also enacted by the interim national assembly, in
2 S. Deshapriya and S. Hattotuwa, Study of the Media in the North-East of recognition of the role the media community had played
Sri Lanka, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lanka, and International
Media Support, Denmark, 2003, page 8. in the restoration of democracy.

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Though these laws remain, in the main, unimplemented of exclusion such as those imposed by the caste system,
because of adverse material circumstances in Nepal, which in different formats is prevalent in India, Nepal,
the media community is intent on seeing that the and Sri Lanka. And since media in all countries tend to
new political order is adequately attentive to issues of be highly attentive and responsive to official guidance,
media freedom and the social and professional rights of communities that are seen to be harbouring cross-border
journalists. loyalties are seldom given a fair hearing in the media.
Conflict continues as a result.
Cross-border Conflict Potential With governments unwilling to act decisively against
Aside from the conflicts within each of the countries of a culture of impunity, journalists often adopt a play-safe
South Asia, there has been a history of tensions between attitude. Even where there is no prior restraint on the
countries, most conspicuously between India and Pakistan, exercise of free speech, a hostile environment can compel
but to a degree between India and Bangladesh, Nepal the media to censor itself. Public dialogue on diverse points
and Sri Lanka too. Conflict potential between India and of view is stymied by the enforcement of traditional social
Pakistan remains high over Kashmir and mutual concerns and political taboos on the media. Two examples are the
over cross-border terrorism. Pakistan of course shares a pattern of reporting in the Indian media on the situation
border with Afghanistan that bristles with the potential in Kashmir, and the efforts in Sri Lanka to prevent critical
for conflict over the suspicion that each country has reporting on that country’s conflict and its aftermath.
become a base for political destabilisation in the other. Without access to adequately representative information,
Most of these conflicts have serious “transnational and citizens are unable to engage fully in democratic processes
global implications”. These conflicts arise from multiple and mechanisms seeking peaceful conciliation of group
and complex causes: economic, political and social. conflicts.
Historical factors also exert a potent influence, including
the persistence of cross-border ties of family and ethnicity, Strategies of Unity and Struggle
which are a legacy of history. This factor is apparent Where journalists are present in large numbers, their
between both sides of the divided state of Jammu and collective ability to fight for their rights is likely to be high.
Kashmir, between Bangladesh and the neighbouring states But this critical mass for successful collective action is
of India, the Nepali plains and the terai regions of the likely to be difficult to mobilise where journalists are few
Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and between and far between. In countries of vast expanse like India,
Pashtoon tribes on either side of the Durand line that or tremendous diversities of topography and culture, like
separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan and Nepal, the journalists most vulnerable are
A recent essay on the potential for violence arising those who are remote from national capitals and major
from the “territorial ambiguity” of nation-states formed metropolitan cities, in both the literal and figurative senses.
in the retreat of colonialism, identifies three kinds of Successful collective action requires effective networking
nationalist anxieties stemming from the ambiguity of above all, between journalists in all regions prone to
India’s borders – McMahonian and Radcliffian (after the conflict and their colleagues in the national capitals and
British bureaucrats who respectively laid out the borders major metropolitan cities. These cities could in turn,
with China and Pakistan) and Kashmirian (arising from function as the nodes through which information is fed
the circumstances of that region’s accession to India). into regional and global networks to enhance the efficacy
Each of these has generated a particular kind of violence, of local actions.
visible most sharply in the borderlands, where the natural Journalists’ unions and organisations should in turn
affinities of community and kinship have entered into take on an active role at the local level in evolving norms
violent confrontation with the territorial imperatives of for media coverage. An example would be Manipur in
separate nations.3 Needless to say, the anxieties that India north-eastern India, where journalists are pressured by
suffers on account of these territorial ambiguities have multiple insurgent groups, each working at cross purposes,
their counterpart anxieties on the other side of South Asia’s and each intent on denying others a voice. The union in
national frontiers, notably in Pakistan and Bangladesh. the state of Manipur responded to these challenges by
In virtually all countries, cross-border ties are taken evolving a code of conduct and publicising it widely so
to be evidence of extra-territorial loyalties that could that the state agencies and insurgent groups were put on
undermine the single-minded loyalty to the nation-state notice of how far they could get their views across through
that is often expected in post-colonial contexts. This leads the media. This collectively agreed code has considerably
to the marginalisation of concerned social groups within enhanced the strength of individual journalists to turn
their respective country’s national politics. This aspect of down demands made by armed groups to skew their
social exclusion is of course distinct from inherited forms coverage one way or the other.
The appropriate vocabulary for conflict reporting
3 Willem van Schendel, “The Wagah Syndrome: Territorial Roots of is also a challenge for professionals in the field. Often,
Contemporary Violence in South Asia”, in Amrita Basu and Srirupa Roy their carefully crafted news reports which are attentive
(editors), Violence and Democracy in India, Seagull Books, London and
New York, pp 36 to 82. to the nuances of the situation they face are edited,

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headlined and placed on the page by staff in distant Methodology

cities who are impatient with ambiguity and keen to This project involved first a recapitulation of the most
establish a clear narrative. The journalist may not have significant interventions and activities conducted by IFJ
a say in the headlines and the images that accompany affiliates and partners in situations of crisis and conflict.
their report, and a photographer may not have a say in The actions that were addressed included responses of
the captions accompanying their work. This division journalists caught up in reporting conflict situations
of labour within news organisations could often pose (including direct attacks, crossfire and targeted threats and
a hazard for journalists and media workers in conflict intimidation); advocacy in situations of conflict (ranging
zones, who are often called upon to explain particular from war to coups to civil unrest to the entrenchment of
undemocratically installed regimes). In these contexts,
terms and turns of phrase used in reports appearing under
the research sought to document how issues of conflict
their credit-line, when the ultimate responsibility rests
sensitivity are built into the training and other work
elsewhere. Journalists’ unions in conflict zones in South
conducted by journalists’ organisations and the inclusion
Asia have responded to this challenge by evolving their
of conflict sensitivity in local codes of conduct.
own vocabulary, which is reflective of all the complexities
A survey was done informally by establishing contacts
and ambiguities of the situation they confront. They with the principals involved in each case and interviewing
need the support of editorial headquarters in making this other interested parties. Information was gathered through
terminology an accepted ingredient of news coverage as it formal and informal contacts with all existing partner
finally is published. organisations of the South Asia Media Solidarity Network
A firm norm has to be established that journalists’ (SAMSN) in the five countries. Previous contacts that the
safety in conflict areas is the primary responsibility of IFJ had developed with journalists who had been directly
employers and media organisations. There are collective affected by incidents of violence and intimidation were
processes that could contribute signally, such as an agreed renewed, to draw on the understanding gained through
norm on covering breaking news in highly hazardous areas. distance and hindsight.
Journalists are often known to walk into deadly dangers The process included focus group discussions in
in their keenness to be the first on the scene with the India and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, conditions remained
breaking news story. This attitude is fed by the competition inimical for collective activities involving journalists,
between media organisations, which has become intense so rather than a focus group, inquiries were conducted
with the proliferation of cable and satellite channels. discretely with individuals in the country and those now
Modes of agitation have varied, from street in exile. In Nepal and Pakistan, the researcher engaged
demonstrations to discrete lobbying behind the scenes. under the project travelled widely and conducted a range
Street demonstrations have maximum impact when the of interviews with journalists who have been active in
issues are broad and can attract a wide cross-section of the struggle for press freedom and have valuable insights
civil society organisations with similar objectives. Where into the specific challenges that conflict situations pose.
threats become intense and multi-dimensional, journalists Activities conducted under other IFJ projects, such as the
have often had to take recourse to the ultimate option annual SAMSN conference in September 2008 and 2009,
of mass closure, as in Kashmir and Manipur on a few were used to gain valuable participant feedback on themes
occasions, though closures in Kashmir are more often and issues relevant to the aims of this report.
coerced rather than voluntary. This option also becomes The findings of the research were prepared in
relatively infeasible where the media functions in a highly detailed draft country reports and presented at a regional
organised, industrialised fashion, and the decision-makers discussion in Kathmandu, Nepal, in July 2010 involving
are many. senior media representatives from all five countries. The
Lobbying efforts could capitalise on the fact that in roundtable discussion analysed the role of the media,
polities where elected officials are putatively accountable journalists and journalists’ organisations in conflict
to the people, they are likely to be very keen to cultivate situations, and the part they played in mitigation of
the goodwill of the media. But this is an aspect of the conflict within and between South Asian countries.
journalists’ profession that could in specific situations The discussion further sought to identify the actions
produce outcomes skewed towards the gain of particular and campaign and advocacy strategies that had been
individuals rather than the collective body. This underlines employed by media communities, both in-country and
the need for leaders and accredited negotiators to follow jointly across the region, to address situations of conflict
a policy of complete transparency when they enter into and, ultimately, to serve the resolution of conflict. Within
these processes. International solidarity and networking this discussion, contributors assessed which strategies had
can also provide vital sustenance in moments of trial, proved effective in varying contexts, and what could be
as with the experience of the South Asia Media done in the future to improve or achieve peaceful conflict
Solidarity Network (SAMSN), a broad alliance of resolution in the future. This report presents the findings
journalists’ unions and press freedom bodies, arrived at as a result of this entire sequence of activities
functioning effectively since 2002. and consultations.

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Parliament is not seen as a legitimate arena for oppositional politics, which is increasingly played out through the media and in the streets (photo courtesy: Sukumar Muralidharan)

BANGLADESH
Political Polarisation Feeds Media
Partisanship

S
ince the restoration of an elected government early in informed debates on the political events leading to the
January 2009, Bangladesh has sought to rebuild a stable murderous political misadventure, its political and cultural
consensus that will guide politics into the years ahead. consequences and the ways of freeing our history from the
The task has proved arduous. The main political opposition, political hangover that the misadventure had caused 34
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced early years ago”.1
in the life of the newly-elected parliament, that it would The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s most widely circulated
boycott proceedings, protesting an election which it said had English daily, had a more positive assessment, commenting,
been rigged in favour of its main rival, the Awami League. “It was for this nation, simply and very logically, a return
The failure of the country’s main political formations to the great idea that rule of law matters, that justice is all,
to agree on a basic framework of rules has raised concerns that anyone who commits a crime should not expect to get
that the media could once again relapse into its bitter away with it. Indeed, now that the legal process has ensured
partisanship, which more than any other factor has a restoration of the principle of justice, it is time for all
contributed to Bangladesh’s failure to evolve an agreed citizens, irrespective of political belief or party affiliation, to
charter on media rights. reflect on the dark shadows that for long impeded our march
Potential for serious political discord emerged over to a better and an egalitarian future.”2
the execution in January 2010 of five of the nine persons Inquiries made with the media community in
convicted of the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader Bangladesh as part of the process of preparing this report
of the nation’s Liberation War of 1971, after a trial that reveal that the Bangla-language press, with its vastly greater
began in 1997 – more than two decades since the event. reach, tended to endorse the execution of the five with little
The ruling party, the Awami League – founded by Sheikh equivocation. Two exceptions were Sangram, a newspaper
Mujib – reasoned that the execution was an important part controlled by the right-wing theocratic party, the Jamaat-
of the country’s reaffirmation of its foundational values of e-Islami, and Amar Desh, which has always been associated
secularism and democracy. The opposition party, the BNP, with an adversarial posture towards the Awami League. Amar
has remained silent, making it clear that it is not reconciled Desh has since become the site of a serious confrontation
to the execution of individuals who enjoyed its protection between the ruling party and the opposition, leading to
all through the years it was in power. the summary closure of the newspaper and the arrest of its
The media for its part has welcomed the event for its editor. This case, about which more will be said later (see
symbolic quality and its value in reaffirming the nation’s box), illustrates how the media in Bangladesh has become
commitment to the rule of the law. The New Age commented a proxy battlefield, in an environment where civic and
editorially, that the “political debates over the murderous
ouster of Mujib regime would not be buried with the burial 1 Editorial, New Age, January 29, 2010, extracted at: http://www.newagebd.
com/2010/jan/29/edit.html#1.
of the bodies of the convicts”. “For (this) to happen”, it
2 Editorial, The Daily Star, January 29, 2010, extracted at: http://www.
said, “society would require threadbare discussions and thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=123985.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

legislative institutions have had little opportunity to develop As Odhikar has noted in its report for 2008, “overt and
into forums for authentic political contestation. The struggle covert restrictions” continued to be imposed on the press
of journalists in Bangladesh then, is partly about preserving and the electronic media all through 2008. These various
the media as a forum that the wider public can depend upon restraints ensured that the true extent of media repression
for accurate and reliable information. Despite odds, this is could not be accurately determined, simply because relevant
a venture in which they have been achieving significant information had no way of emerging into the public
successes. ___domain. Neither is there any basis to believe that the overall
Just weeks after an elected government took over the human rights situation has improved since the return of
reins, Bangladesh was shaken by a mutiny in the barracks civilian rule.
of the Bangladesh Rifles – a paramilitary force tasked with Illustratively, the Odhikar report for 2008 notes 149
guarding the country’s borders – in the capital city of extra-judicial killings. The picture in 2009 was, if anything,
Dhaka. The event was deeply traumatic and threatened worse, with 154 extra-judicial killings being recorded.
to unsettle the newly installed Government. It also Here again, the disclaimer needs to be entered that the
underlined that civil and military institutions remain information environment was not quite transparent in 2008,
infirm in their commitment to the central principles of an rendering the figures from that year non-comparable with
electoral democracy. In its first reactions to the event, the those of 2009. Yet, there are grounds for worry about the
Government clamped down on the YouTube video-sharing record of extra-judicial killings, especially in terms of the
website and several blog-sites, which had posted visuals implications for media reporting on the issue.
and other material connected to the mutiny. All users of As in most of South Asia, the media has grown rapidly in
the internet in Bangladesh were denied access to these Bangladesh over the past two decades, though the growth
sites, though the effort was not entirely successful. The sites remains uneven. Print media is limited in reach and scope
remained available outside Bangladesh and the internet because of poor advertising revenue accruals and low literacy
allowed sufficient avenues for those with the determination levels. The electronic media has grown but remains focused
to access the information.3 to a great extent on entertainment. Radio remains restricted
The mainstream media in Bangladesh, though, escaped by irksome rules. A community radio policy, announced
serious impediments during and after the mutiny. This was in early 2008, has since been implemented though rather
partly because – when the scale of the atrocities committed hesitantly.
by the mutineers became clear – everyone fell in line and
fully backed the new Government’s effort to bring the The Emergency and After
mutineers to justice. By mid-September 2010, a verdict had The most significant event that has a bearing on the current
been reached for the mutineers who participated in the report happens outside the period of immediate concern.
relatively minor incidents in the barracks in Sylhet town. In 1994, a mere three years into civilian rule - after the long
The trial of the Dhaka mutineers was entering the stage years of military domination that followed Sheikh Mujib’s
of framing of charges, amidst some apprehension over assassination - the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists
the possible repercussions of the extreme penalty being (BFUJ) split. Both sides claimed the appellation of the main
handed down.It also remains uncertain if the return of union and because of the bitter polarisation between the
civilian rule has made a significant difference to the media country’s two main political formations, then only incipient,
freedom situation. According to a list prepared by Odhikar, this split has remained unbridged.
a human rights organisation based in Bangladesh, there In 2001, shortly after national elections resulted in
were 115 identified acts of transgression against media a decisive triumph for one of the political formations, a
freedom in 2008 – embracing the whole gamut from attacks series of planned assaults occurred against the religious
to abductions, threats and legal action with intent to minority in Bangladesh, as also persons of the majority
silence critical reporting.4 In 2009, the first full year since who had stood for religious neutrality in politics. By this
the restoration of an elected government, the same source time, the embitterment between the Awami League and
reported 266 attacks on media freedom, covering the same the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) was complete and
range of situations.5 seemingly irremediable. The schism has since widened,
It must be underlined that the data for 2008 may be fuelled by competing readings of the country’s history,
understated because of the numerous impediments placed in and deep divisions over the mode of engagement with
the way of critical reporting during the emergency regime. the neighbourhood and the world that would best serve
national interest.
3 These and other related events are dealt with in the IFJ’s Press Freedom
When another cycle of elections was due to begin
Report for South Asia issued in May 2009, available at: http://asiapacific. in 2006, political violence broke out on the streets. The
ifj.org/assets/docs/082/145/d084a52-925dc91.pdf.
media again got trapped in the crossfire. The issue was
4 Figures obtained from page 36 of Odhikar’s report on human rights in
Bangladesh in 2008; available at: http://www.odhikar.org/report/pdf/ whether an incumbent government, which had jurisdiction
hr_report_2008.pdf. over the disposition of state power, could ensure free
5 Figures obtained from page 27 of Odhikar’s report on human rights elections. National law in Bangladesh provides for a
situation in Bangladesh in 2009; available at: http://www.odhikar.org/
documents/2009/English_report/HRR_%202009.pdf caretaker administration to conduct the affairs of state in

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

particularly against government officials,

businesses, professionals, intellectuals
and politicians”. The letter stated, “The
Government hopes that the country’s
mass media will take greater care in
publishing/broadcasting apolitical and
substantial news, features, discussions,
satirical sketches and cartoons, in order to
maintain the positive role of the electronic
and print media.” This did not yet indicate
how far the new regime was prepared
to go in enforcing its writ on the press.
Nor was it clear what instruments the
emergency administration would use. For
these reasons, the initial impact of these
demarches was not very great, though
caution continued being the norm for the
media.
When the first signs of a challenge
The emergency regime was tough on dissent, but journalists still organised to take legitimate grievances on to the to the new administration surfaced with
streets (photo courtesy: Drik News)
student protests at Dhaka University in
August 2007, the official tone became
the interregnum between successive governments. But the
considerably harsher. Coverage of the demonstrations
breakdown of mutual trust between the national parties and drew a stern reminder from the administration about the
the public mistrust of the integrity of national institutions special circumstances of the “state of emergency”. The all
became so deep that the entire democratic process was but explicit suggestion from the administration was that
suspended and an “emergency regime” imposed, fronted by the protests were instigated by media coverage and only
a group of civilian bureaucrats but in reality, underwritten by took a violent turn on that account. As the unrest spread,
the power of the armed forces. the emergency regime put the main cities of the country’s
There was a news blackout in the immediate aftermath six administrative divisions under curfew. Mainul Hosein,
of the proclamation of “emergency”. A series of meetings then the Information Adviser to the President, summoned a
ensued over the next days between editors, senior meeting of Bangladesh’s leading editors and television heads
journalists and the officials of the newly formed caretaker to urge that they “report conscientiously and responsibly”.
administration. The ban on news reporting was then relaxed The Government, he said, had no intention of imposing
with the media being granted explicit sanction to report censorship in any form, although it had the powers to do
“factually”. Television channels went back on-air with news so. This directive was reported in sections of the press in a
programs and newspapers began to publish stories, though critical tone, but again, because of the many ambiguities
with a degree of caution and self-censorship. in the situation and the general belief that the emergency
Both the chief of staff of the Bangladesh Army and administration was seeking to establish a new mode of
the chief adviser to the President – who functioned with consensual politics, free of the bitter acrimony of preceding
the powers of a Prime Minister – were prone to affirm at years, the media response was not overtly hostile.
every opportunity, that while Parliament remained under The underlying tensions continued till the state of
suspension, the media would be expected to function as an emergency was relaxed in December 2008. On December
effective forum for public debate. However, the first actions 5, 2008, when residual emergency regulations were on the
under the emergency regime included setting up a special verge of being dismantled, New Age, one of Bangladesh’s
cell to deal with the media, which became a means of leading English-language newspapers, commented editorially
establishing control. Unwritten advisories were issued to the that the “interference and intimidation faced by the news
media on the limits of critical commentary in newspapers. media in general and harassment faced by newsmen in
As for broadcast media, specific written orders were issued at particular” had been “significantly higher” under the
frequent intervals on the topics that could be covered in live emergency administration than “anything experienced in
talk shows and the people who could be invited. the previous 15 years”.
There were frequent demarches issued from the
administration during this period, asking the media to A Brief Recapitulation of Serious Events
support the cause of the emergency regime. In April 2007, Following is a recapitulation of some events from the past
the Government took censorship a step further, sending five years that focus attention on the hazards to journalism
out letters requesting media outlets not to publish or from the lack of a settled consensus on how politics should
broadcast “ill-motivated, harassing or misleading reports, function and the limits of critical media commentary:

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

• In November 2005, Habibur Rahman Habib, alleged rampant financial malfeasance under his
general secretary of the Manikchari Press Club and watch. Although Akash had obtained anticipatory bail
correspondent of Dainik Ajker Kagoj and Dainik from the appropriate court soon after the complaint
Supravat, was assaulted by cadres of the ruling BNP. was lodged, he was arrested on the strength of another
Before the attack, a ruling party MP made threats complaint registered just four hours before personnel
against local journalists of Khagrachari. Members of RAB V raided his home. Akash was detained until
of the BNP also held a demonstration and set fire November 19 and suffered torture at the hands of the
to copies of the daily Dainik Jugantor in Ullahpara, RAB V and then at the hands of the Rajshahi police.
Shirajganj. The incident occurred after Dainik Jugantor Even after he was released on bail, fresh cases were
published a report titled “Bangla Bhai – the chief of registered against him by known offenders and he
Islami Militants stays in a BNP leader’s house”. had to seek refuge in Dhaka, rather than return to his
• Rafiqul Islam, a correspondent for the daily Amar Desh family home. He now lives in exile.
in Rajshahi, was brutally attacked by members of the • Zahirul Haque Titu, correspondent for the dailies
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Inqilab and the New Nation, was detained in
ruling party in January 2006. Ten attackers entered the October 2007 in his hometown of Pirojpur, in
Durgapur Press Club and assaulted Rafiqul Islam, who south-western Bangladesh. No case was mentioned,
is the club’s president. Nurul Islam, the club’s general although the arrest was professedly made under
secretary, was also attacked when he tried to intervene. section 16(2) of the Emergency Powers rules, which
Before the attacks Rafiqul Islam had filed a complaint allows non-police law enforcers the same powers of
with the police after he received warnings not to search and seizure as the police. Titu had faced the
report on alleged extortion by JCD members, but no overt hostility of Islamist elements and their allies
protection was offered. within the BNP since 2003. The many attacks against
• In the town of Kushtia in May 2006, a BNP MP, him have gone uninvestigated because the BNP
Shahidul Islam, sent his armed cadres to attack a has typically alternated with the Awami League in
journalists’ convention that was taking place near the exercising power.
local press club. Many senior journalists, who were • On May 11, 2007, journalist and human rights
invited from Dhaka to attend the program, including campaigner Tasneem Khalil was arrested at his home in
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, former editor of the Dhaka by plain-clothes officers. Khalil was taken to the
Bangladesh Observer and BFUJ president, were injured in Sangsad Bhavan army camp and tortured. An assistant
the attack. editor with the Daily Star, Bangladesh’s leading English
• On March 5, 2007, Jamal Uddin, correspondent for language newspaper, Khalil has also worked for global
the news agency ABAS and the local daily Dainik Giri broadcaster CNN International and compiled reports
Darpan, disappeared from his home in Kathaltala. The for Human Rights Watch. Khalil suffered serious
next day, his body was found near Rangamati Lake. injuries under torture and was released after a day’s
A part of his face was damaged and other parts of his detention.
body were found to have been scratched. A rope was • Arifur Rahman, a cartoonist with the Bangla daily
tied around his neck. The post-mortem, released 12 Prothom Alo, was dismissed by his employers in
days after the body was found, concluded that Jamal September 2007 after fiery demonstrations by Islamic
Uddin probably committed suicide. His colleagues groups against a cartoon he composed, involving
and relatives however rejected this finding, saying it a play of words on the name Mohammad. The
was based on circumstantial evidence, and that Jamal newspaper apologised for carrying the cartoon,
Uddin had no suicidal tendencies. Police claimed they although neither the editor nor the publisher suffered
found an audio cassette on Jamal Uddin’s body, where sanction. Rahman was arrested two days later. With no
he recorded a suicide note. However, police refused to one willing to stand surety, he was sent to prison for 30
allow his colleagues to listen to the audio. days. After repeated extensions of his detention, he was
• Jahangir Alam Akash, a reporter with the daily released on March 20, 2008. He was discharged in all
Sangbad and CSB Television, was arrested on the night cases against him in January 2010.
of October 23, 2007, at his home in the Rajshahi Journalists’ bodies in Bangladesh have typically
administrative division of Bangladesh, by personnel organised strongly to meet these numerous challenges
of the Rapid Action Battalion V (RAB V). The arresting to their professional safety and security. But they face
party was led by an officer who had been named by obstacles at various stages. Illustratively, when the BFUJ was
Akash in some of his reports as being responsible for a gearing up to organise a national journalists’ convention in
number of civilian killings. The arrest was effected on November 2005, to register its protest against the growing
the basis of a complaint of extortion lodged by a local climate of fear for the media, the Government cancelled
politician who had lost his trusteeship over a body the reservation it had made for the venue, booked well in
administering the properties of religious institutions advance. No explanation was given, other than certain
in the area, after several investigative reports by Akash ill-defined “security” reasons.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Most of these acts of violence against journalists and the scheduled in the south-western divisional headquarters
media have gone unpunished. Bangladesh in this respect town of Khulna on 20 March was denied permission to
shares in the culture of impunity that prevails – with rare use a public address system, provoking another round of
exceptions – in most of South Asia. recrimination between ruling party and opposition.
Media commentary also tended to be polarised. A
Defamation Cases and Extortion Charges columnist in the Daily Star, for instance, confessed to being
Journalists face serious threats in their coverage of human “surprised and shocked” at Mahmud’s warning to the
rights issues, especially involving extra-judicial killings by Prime Minister, saying it transgressed all cultural norms of
the military and security agencies in Bangladesh. A further “respect” to the individual and shockingly amounted to
hazard is the frequent use of defamation law and extortion a physical threat to an elected Prime Minister. The claim
charges to silence critical reporting. that General Zia-ur Rahman deserved an honoured position
In July 2005, warrants for arrest were issued against because he had restored “multi-party democracy” in
the editors of two Bangla-language daily newspapers in a Bangladesh was debunked in decisive terms: “In the guise of
defamation suit filed by a member of the BNP, who stated restoration of a democracy, the late dictator made sure that
that the newspapers had published reports implicating him all the noble principles underpinning the War of Liberation
and his two brothers in a murder. were cast aside in order for the enemies of freedom to return
In another instance, a BNP leader, Fakir Abu Bakkar to the political centre stage. The old Pakistan-obsessed
Siddiqui, of Melandaha in Jamalpur district and chairman Muslim Leaguers and Jamaatis, who should have gone to
of Nayanagar Union Parishad (the first tier of the prison or worse for treason, a la Nuremberg, came back to re-
local government), filed a defamation case against the paint themselves as men who mattered in Bangladesh. And
daily newspapers Bhorer Kagoj, Prothom Alo and local you call that a return to multi-party democracy?”6
correspondents of Shamokal including editors and publishers There were also public expressions of disquiet within the
of the dailies for publishing a news report on him. journalists’ community at the overt politicisation of the JPC.
In a positive move, the High Court in February 2006 But these concerns tended to be muted since Mahmud is
granted anticipatory bail to Bazlur Rahman, editor of the by no means the only senior journalist to overtly engage in
daily, Sangbad. In July 2005, Sangbad published a report partisan politics. In 2009, the president of the BFUJ faction
titled, “Conflict among local BNP members in Jamalpur”, aligned with the Awami League, Iqbal Sobhan Chaudhary,
which named a local politician as an accused in a criminal contested national elections on the party’s ticket and lost.
case, drawing forth a defamation case against the editor and There was seemingly no contradiction seen between his role
correspondent under whose name the story had appeared. as leader of a nationwide union of journalists and his public
loyalty to one of the country’s main political parties.
Journalists’ Organisations Bitterly Divided
There have been occasions when the media has represented Cross-border Conflict Potential
political rivalries in a manner that brings latent animosities Bangladesh continues to have serious bilateral difficulties
alarmingly to the surface. A widely talked about instance is in its relationship with India and these cast a long shadow
the public intervention in March 2010 by journalist Shawkat over the functioning of the media. The most recent source
Mahmud, president of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC, or National of discord has been India’s proposal to construct a dam
Press Club) and adviser to BNP president Khaleda Zia. Irked at Tipaimukh in the state of Manipur. Water experts in
by a statement by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the Bangladesh have estimated that this could result in serious
public expenditure incurred in maintaining the tomb of losses to the lower riparian regions in their country.
General Zia-ur Rahman, former Bangladesh president and The media has taken up this issue and the Indian High
the founder and political icon of the BNP, Mahmud issued a Commissioner in Bangladesh has in particular, been targeted
dire and explicit warning of physical harm to anyone who for allegedly intemperate utterances. This in turn has led to
thought of undoing the majesty of the monument. He also finger-pointing between governmental authorities and the
urged the Prime Minister to salute the monument every time media and serious bad blood.
she passed it, to honour the enduring political legacy of the These apart, the problem of territorial enclaves
BNP founder, particularly his role in restoring multi-party along the border between the two countries continues to
democracy to Bangladesh. defy solution. India has sovereignty over several patches
Members of the ruling party were quick to file of land within Bangladeshi territory, to which it has no
defamation cases against Mahmud – by one count, 27 have contiguous access and the same applies for Bangladesh’s
been filed in various courts – in complete disregard of the sovereign territory within Indian borders. These
legal norm that such litigation can only be initiated by uncertainties over border demarcation, citizen allegiance
persons directly aggrieved. The BNP responded by activating
the network of press clubs that owed allegiance to Mahmud,
6 Syed Badrul Ahsan, “The mediocre and the maddening”, Daily Star,
and conducting protest rallies against the legal harassment March 24, 2010, extracted on the same day at: www.thedailystar.net/
of its adviser. Leading journalists from various parts of newDesign/print_news.php?nid=131302. The reference here is to two
the country were slated to participate. But one that was political parties - the Muslim League and the Jamaat-e-Islami - both
electoral allies of the BNP.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

The Amar Desh case partisans of the ruling party. The more proximate cause
of the newspaper’s troubles, it was widely recognised,

O n June 1, 2010, the Government of Bangladesh

cancelled the “declaration” – which refers under local
law to the registration of a newspaper – of the Bangla daily
was a series of critical stories it had run on alleged acts of
malfeasance by senior officials of the Government.
On December 17, 2009, Amar Desh carried a report
Amar Desh on the grounds that it was in breach of the law, about a dubious transaction with a U.S.– based oil company,
in having no authorised or identifiable publisher. concluded on the specific recommendation of the Prime
The “acting editor” of the newspaper, Mahmudur Minister’s energy adviser. A sum of USD 5 million was paid
Rahman, was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with as illegal gratification in concluding the deal, the report said.
multiple cases of financial malfeasance by the country’s Three days later, the correspondent in whose name the story
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The Deputy appeared was attacked in a busy part of Dhaka.
Commissioner (DC) of Dhaka cancelled the registration of Rahman, who was previously chairman of the Board
Amar Desh under the applicable law, the Printing Presses of Investment and Energy Adviser in the 2001-06 BNP-led
and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973, government, secured anticipatory bail protecting himself
since he allegedly found that the publisher in whose against arrest five days later. In granting this relief, the court
name it was registered had in March 2010 informed the also directed all lower courts not to entertain defamation
authorities that he was ceasing his involvement with the claims against Rahman until its next hearing. On February
newspaper. 11, 2010, Rahman was attacked in Dhaka. He was not
The newspaper had been bought up by Rahman in injured, but the car in which he was travelling was badly
2009, shortly after Bangladesh returned to civilian rule. damaged. A public meeting was held soon afterward to
The erstwhile publisher determined in October 2009 that protest the attack as a violation of press freedom. But several
he would discontinue his association with the newspaper prominent journalists stayed away, accusing the BNP of
and formally notified the local authorities in March 2010. turning it into a political event.
An application that Rahman tendered to be registered as At a meeting on April 3, 2010, journalists aligned with
the publisher of Amar Desh was rejected on the grounds the BNP and its political ally, the Jamaat-e-Islami, criticised
that he was ineligible, because of numerous criminal cases what they called the “oppression” of media personnel, drew
registered against him. The cancellation of the newspaper’s up a charter of demands and presented the Government
registration followed a formal report by the Special Branch with an ultimatum of June 15, 2010, to accede to their
of the Dhaka police, recording this finding. demands. With its clear political overtones, the campaign
The official narration on the Amar Desh closure, attracted much adverse comment from journalists of the
unsurprisingly, won few adherents, except among Awami League camp. They pointed out, for instance, that

and the jurisdiction of border guards, has led to great Sources of conflict and available remedies:
tension along the border, often involving loss of innocent Journalists’ perceptions
life. Media coverage of these issues, again, has tended to
obscure the true sources of the problem and the possible A survey conducted by IFJ among Bangladeshi journalists
solutions on both sides. in the early years of the emergency regime, testified to the
Issues of trade, migration and the supposed sponsorship widespread perception, that “power politics” is the main
of cross-border insurgencies, continue to play a corrosive source of conflict in Bangladesh. These findings have been
role in mutual relations between the two neighbours. Travel underlined by a more recent survey.
between the two countries has also become more difficult The problem, a majority of respondents say, could be
in recent years with the Indian High Commission in mitigated by facilitating constructive people-to-people
Dhaka introducing a new visa process that requires online contacts, with the community of journalists playing a
application. In recent months, a report by the U.N. Drug facilitative role. The overwhelming sentiment gauged by
Control Agency pointing to the smuggling of drugs for illicit the survey, was that the media should focus on the “human
use in Bangladesh attracted much attention in that country’s element” in all conflicts and report in an “accurate and
media. The largest source of such illicit drugs was identified unbiased” manner.
as India. Within the Indian media though, the story merited A significant majority among the respondents felt that
little attention, since Bangladesh though a large country if journalists’ unions could form broader alliances with
in the immediate neighbourhood, is still considered to other civil society groups, it would augment the capacity
not belong in the league of top-tier international relations of both to intervene in significant civic and political issues.
for India. The media needs to address this asymmetry in Many referred to the movement of 1990 for the restoration
perceptions to bring about a more enlightened public of democracy, when journalists’ union and civil society
dialogue on cross-border issues, including those that embody organisations joined hands to topple a fifteen-year long
a conflict potential. military autocracy.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

rights, sovereign rights over natural resources, the ideals of

Rahman’s credentials as an editor and publisher were of the liberation war, the values of secular democracy, and the
relatively recent and somewhat dubious provenance, since process of accountability for war criminals. To make this
he only bought into Amar Desh after his stint at chairman broader alliance a reality, issues such as the implementation
of the Board of Investment and Energy Adviser. of the award of the wage board for journalists, and the
Since the BNP lost political power in 2007, numerous revocation of all black laws relating to the media, could be a
corruption cases have been lodged against Rahman, minimum programme of action.
even before the Awami League assumed power in 2009. Political polarisation remains the most significant
In June 2008, for instance, the ACC, operating under impediment to journalism that is true to its values.
the “emergency” administration, launched proceedings Threats and physical hazards continue to be a challenge
against him for embezzlement involving a sum of over for journalists in Bangladesh. Khulna, one of the country’s
BDT 100 million. This case involved his ownership of an six administrative divisions, has witnessed the most
entity known as Shinepukur Holdings Ltd, which was dangerous working conditions for journalists in the
involved in real estate development in Dhaka city.1 country. Indeed, the phenomenon of “terrorism”,
On February 9, 2010, Rahman was denied permission involving both targeted and random acts of violence
to travel to Germany. In a suit for damages filed early against media workers and ordinary civilians, began in the
in April, he claimed that the purpose of the visit was to Khulna area, according to most journalists. The threats
attend a trade fair which would be of potential business persist to this day, with Islamic groups and radical left-
gain for him as the owner of a ceramics manufacturing wing groups contributing to a pervasive sense of insecurity
unit. Yet the case has been represented in sections of the within the media.
local media as a violation of press freedom. Every region of Bangladesh has problems specific to itself.
This case, as with many others, illustrates the Chittagong division, which has seen a low-level insurgency
ambiguities that surround individual claims by newspaper and occasional outbreaks of ethnic fighting, is also often a
owners that their interests are in some way consistent hazardous area for journalists. Journalists and media workers
with those of the larger independent journalists’ in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in particular often face the
community. In an environment where the media is seen denial of essential professional equipment and material, on
as a partisan battler rather than a fair and neutral source of the grounds that the generalised availability of these could
information, journalists tend to get caught in the crossfire help the cause of the ethnic insurgencies.
of political sniping. Most journalists surveyed in the earlier phase of an IFJ
project had been exposed to conflict situations. A clear
1 The story can be read in the Daily Star, issue dated June 20, 2008, two-thirds had done more than 10 stories in the preceding
extracted at this writing from: www.dailystar.net/story. year on conflict situations. Fewer than 2 per cent claimed
php?nid=42890.
not to have encountered any conflict situation while on the
professional beat.
Certain localised cases, which did not attract quite the More than 60 per cent of the respondents thought
same international attention, are also cited to underline that the information provided on conflict by government
this principle. In April 2001, for example, the Purbakon departments, police and military sources was “limited”.
newspaper in Chittagong came under attack from a local More than 36 per cent thought the information from these
leader of the Awami League, then the ruling party. This sources was “biased”. An overwhelming 88 per cent of the
occasioned another united campaign by various professional respondents were prepared to characterise media coverage
bodies, student organisations and civil society, in an effort to of conflict as “biased”. More than half cited “commercial
bring those guilty to justice. considerations” as the main reason for media bias, while just
Other significant milestones in the collaboration between under one in five thought that media proprietors’ political
journalists’ unions and civil society include the movement interests were the principal underlying factor.
sponsored by National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Power Responding to a question on institutional remedies for
and Port; and the movement for Khulna University in the the problems they face, a majority of respondents to the
1980s. Similarly broad alliances were also formed when most recent survey said that they had no viable mechanism
journalists Manik Saha and Shamsur Rahman were killed in of redress. Close to 80 per cent of respondents said that
separate terrorist attacks. they could lodge complaints with the local union branch,
How far this manner of collaboration will remain a real their own media office, and the local press club, but few of
option in the current political climate, though, is another these get any attention. When media owners decide on their
question. news coverage priorities, there is apparently no way that a
Most respondents to the survey conducted under the journalist can alter those facts.
current project, believe that media rights will remain a dead Numerous institutional changes were suggested by the
letter unless journalists, editors, owners and others can work journalists who participated in the study, including:
together. This manner of alliance would be feasible when • Regional and international bodies who will take
the country’s independence is at stake, to protect human note of each instance of the violation of journalists’

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

rights in conflict situations and pressure the relevant • Institution of serious training programmes by
authorities and agencies to institute remedies; journalists’ organisations, with priority attention to
• Institution of an Ombudsman within all media media ethics and fairness issues.
organisations to oversee ethical practices and editorial Needless to say, all these recommendations are
choices; underpinned by the requirement that the country’s two
• Creation of a cell within the Bangladesh Press main political parties should engage more constructively and
Council, with adequate powers and resources to not allow their rivalry to be a continuing force for disruption
attend to complaints from working journalists; of civil society activity. This requires, at the minimum,
• Formation of a special commission or authority that agreement between them on the country’s recent history,
will exercise broad oversight in the media sector, with the values of its war of liberation – however construed – and
membership from journalists’ bodies, media owners’ a compact that civil society institutions will not be subject to
organisations, and government; and their meddling attentions.

INDIA
Problems Persist Despite Strong
Foundations

I
ndia has strong Constitutional provisions and judicial opinion is moulded. There have been occasions though,
rulings in defence of press freedom. But in a nation of when events that challenge the commitment and courage
sub-continental expanse, there are regions where press of professional colleagues in faraway locations have elicited
freedom seems an empty slogan. Likewise, there are parts strong solidarity actions from collectives based in the
of the country where press freedom is under threat from national capital.
the untrammelled commercialism of media functioning. Early in July 2010, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ),
Because of its vastness, issues of media freedom in a constituent unit of the IFJ-affiliated Indian Journalists’
particular regions of India tend not to resonate in India’s Union (IJU), issued a strong statement deprecating the
capital or its vast metropolises, where “national” public drastic erosion in the atmosphere for journalism, following

Kashmir's journalists have had a tough time negotiating the numerous restrictions imposed to curb recent disturbances (photo courtesy: Rising Kashmir)

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

month-long civil disturbances in the state of Jammu and in India’s north-east. Also active has been the Editors’
Kashmir. Cities in the Kashmir valley had been under curfew Guild of India – as on February 17, 2010, when it issued a
for a number of days since widespread demonstrations statement strongly deprecating the Manipur government
began in the region early in June. On July 7, as the army for its indifference to the problems faced by local media.
was summoned, the curfew was extended to cover the Particularly troublesome, it found, was the failure of
movement of all civilians, and word put out that press governmental authorities to defend press freedom against
passes would no longer be honoured. All Kashmir’s media the actions of non-state armed groups.
personnel were confined to their homes. Camera operators
in the capital, Srinagar, were assaulted as they sought to Multiple Pressures on Press Freedom
record the day’s events and some had their professional While expressing its deep concern over the plight of
equipment confiscated by security personnel. journalists in Manipur, the Guild called for “urgent
The day’s incidents followed similar occurrences on remedial measures to bridge the growing gulf between the
July 6, when at least 12 photographers working for local, Government and the Manipur media”.
national and international media were assaulted in Srinagar In mid-2009, when the IFJ conducted a series of inquiries
as security forces sought to restrain them from recording involving journalists from Manipur, the situation had
demonstrations. As the photo-journalists and news become sufficiently grave for a senior editor in the state
cameramen were attacked, senior police officers were heard capital city of Imphal to consider the option of carrying
remarking that without media attention the protests would a fire-arm for self-defence. The editor, who spoke in
soon lose momentum. confidence, was aware that he would forfeit his right to
Two other important institutions based in the be regarded as a civilian non-combatant – and claim all
Indian national capital, the Press Club of India and the attendant protections – once he opted to arm himself, even
Editors’ Guild, joined the solidarity actions for Kashmir’s in self-defence. But he was willing to sacrifice principle in
journalists. This focused and relatively powerful response the face of the practical difficulties of being an editor in
from professional organisations in New Delhi was one of India’s most troubled states. India has had a passing
elicited by an unprecedented degree of unity shown by familiarity, ever since the Punjab militancy in the 1980s, of
journalists in Kashmir. For the first time in two decades editors seeking armed guard for their security. To the credit
of trouble in the region, five different organisations of Manipur’s journalists, they have – aside from talking
managed to assemble on the same platform and put about it – not yet sought active recourse to this option. The
forward a common position demanding basic professional reason, at least partly, as the senior editor from Manipur put
freedoms. These organisations included the Kashmir Press it, is that they have a reasonable assurance that civil society
Guild, the Kashmir Press Association, the Kashmir Press still stands with them and will sustain them in the struggle
Photographers’ Association, the Kashmir Videographers’ against the threats of armed militant groups.
Association and the Kashmir Journalists’ Corps. This Mid-May 2010, Thuingaleng Muivah, leader of the
multiplicity of organisations is an index of disunity in the long-running Naga insurgency demanding an autonomous
past. But their newfound conviction that strength lies in Nagalim, or “Greater Nagaland” integrating all Naga-
unity is an important indicator of the potential of the new inhabited areas, prepared to visit his home village in the
course they are charting. district of Ukhrul in Manipur. Suspecting an effort to stir
The united action drew forth a degree of international up new turmoil in the state’s delicate ethnic mix, Manipur’s
support. And the empowered bodies within India reacted Government banned his visit. A protest by Muivah’s
with considerable sensitivity. The Press Council of India, supporters at the Nagaland-Manipur border was fired upon,
which was created with a mandate to oversee media resulting in the death of two. Muivah’s political party, the
conduct and ethics, but has since extended its gaze towards National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), called a
media freedom and journalists’ safety, took cognisance blockade of the highway through Nagaland, the main route
of the events and asked the Kashmir bodies to submit a for supplying Manipur. Stocks of food and other essential
memorandum describing all relevant events. The working supplies in Manipur were soon depleted. As prices soared,
environment for journalists began improving but then state authorities opened an alternative route through which
took a turn for the worse early in September 2010 when the they could truck in material in an armed convoy. But the
festive occasion of Eid-ul Fitr drew mass demonstrations blockade, which went into a third month before it was
on the streets and a strong-arm response. Two days later, partially eased under a threat of armed action by the Indian
the Kashmir valley witnessed its worst civilian death toll in union government, deeply dented the rhythm of civic life in
almost two decades, when an estimated 15 demonstrators Manipur.
among a vast multitude that had taken to the streets to Journalists, like all sections of civil society, suffered from
protest the alleged desecration of the Islamic scripture in far this extraordinary outbreak of animosity. Scarcity impinged
away New York, were killed in police firing. on journalism when inventories of newsprint held by
The DUJ has in the recent past lodged strong protests Manipur’s many dailies began running low within a few
with the Indian Union Government and carried out weeks of the blockade. Many Manipur dailies reduced their
demonstrations in solidarity with journalists of Manipur daily quota of pages. Indeed, the blockade was eased just

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

as many of Imphal’s editors were contemplating a possible be entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),
shutdown. controlled by the Union Government. Yet, as the Editors’
In terms of its relationship with the local press, civil Guild of India pointed out on February 17, 2010, there has
society in Manipur went through a spectrum of attitudes. been little progress in identifying those guilty of Rishikanta’s
Mid-May, as civil society groups in Muivah’s home murder. That situation persists.
district of Ukhrul mobilised to protest the ban on his AMWJU has on earlier occasions called for a complete
visit, they accused the press in the Manipur valley, home closure of all newspapers in Manipur to protest particularly
predominantly to the Meitei ethnic group, of insensitivity difficult situations. Journalists in Manipur are pressured
to the hill tribes’ perceptions. As the NSCN blockade began by one or more of the region’s multiple insurgencies to
to deeply hurt daily life, a counter mobilisation by people in favour particular viewpoints and shut out all others. And an
the Manipur valley prevented essential supplies from going overarching reality is the state security authorities’ insistence
up to the state’s hill districts. Newspapers were among the that all insurgent groups that defy the state’s writ should
commodities blockaded. have no right to be heard through the media. This pincer
Civil society groups and journalists’ organisations in movement between insurgent groups and state authorities
Ukhrul were outraged by the counter-blockade by activist often leaves journalists without recourse.
groups in the Manipur valley. Showing a degree of inter- Manipur’s journalists united in June 2005 to adopt a
ethnic solidarity, the All Manipur Working Journalists’ resolution on the norms of fair reporting. The document was
Union (AMWJU) – headquartered in Imphal though with arrived at after extensive debate and reflected, in the particular
ties and affiliations across the state – condemned the seizure circumstances of Manipur, a deep concern for the integrity of
of newspapers. Basic commonsense prevailed: that the the reporting function (see box). Norms and procedures in the
exchange of ideas and information – whatever their skew – resolution were widely publicised so that militant groups and
should not be hostage to inter-ethnic or communal rivalries. security agencies would know the limits to which the media
The Ukhrul District Journalists’ Association also joined in might accommodate their conflicting demands. Pushing
the condemnation of the blockade of newspapers.1 demands beyond these limits, it was said, would trigger a
Within Ukhrul though, the journalistic consensus closing of ranks by Manipur’s media and possibly a mass
seemed to have little diffusion through civil society, as shutdown. Yet, as pointed out in an assessment two years
communities mobilised to block passage for newspapers into the code’s operation, there was little to suggest it had
from the Manipur valley, to protest their alleged indifference been an effective tool in safeguarding professional integrity or
to the rightful demands of the Naga people. As reported journalists’ physical safety. The “militants (were) well versed
by the Imphal Free Press, Naga tribes in the Ukhrul region in their tactics to get their releases published keeping the press
were unimpressed by the reporting of the Manipur valley constitution and rules intact”.3
newspapers. In this sense, the consensus among civil society Manipur is a region where the media’s daily functioning
agitators seemed the opposite of that achieved by the is at considerable risk, and the flow of news is vitiated
journalists. by numerous extraneous pressures on the practice of
AMWJU has long sought a defence mechanism against journalism. But in terms of the hazards facing journalists,
the threats that journalists face. Despite the diversity of the Assam has been India’s ground-zero.
social matrix, where, as a local journalist and media analyst
puts it, “multiple histories, multiple cultures and multiple Assam: A Climate of Impunity
identities (are) struggling for recognition”2, the journalists’ On July 29, 2009, a trial court in Guwahati, Assam’s
community has often been able to achieve great unanimity largest city and capital in all but name, acquitted
of purpose. the sole accused in the murder of Parag Kumar Das,
On November 20, 2008, AMWJU declared a closure of who was at the time of his death, executive editor of
all newspapers in the state to protest the murder three days Asomiya Pratidin, the largest circulated daily in the Assamese
before of young journalist Konsam Rishikanta Singh. Six language. Das was a widely-known journalist and public
days on, the strike was extended indefinitely. It was only intellectual, active in human rights campaigns and an
after 11 days that local authorities conceded a key AMWJU outspoken critic of the security strategy of government
demand – that the investigation into Rishikanta’s murder authorities, which often involved the covert use of
underground elements to carry out targeted murders. He
1 This construction of events is based on interviews with journalists in was an active campaigner for a particular conception of an
Manipur and concurrent reporting in the local press, notably the Sangai
Express and Imphal Free Press. Some particularly relevant reports are Assamese national identity, which he said was entitled to
available at www.e-pao.net, which regularly aggregates some of the most a separate sovereign existence outside Indian control. He
important news reports pertaining to Manipur. On the hill peoples’
disaffection with the valley-based newspapers, see the Sangai Express
was shot dead in May 1996, in a busy part of Guwahati as
reports, available at: http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=14..180510. he fetched his son from school. It was by coincidence or
may10 and http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=14..180510.may10. On the
otherwise, the very day that a new government was being
“counter-blockade” imposed by the valley and the impact on newspaper
distribution, see: http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=19..230510.may10. sworn into office in the state.
2 Anjulika Thingnam, “Media Under Siege, Media Functioning in an
Armed Conflict situation: A Case Study of Manipur”, Social Action,
Volume 57, Number 4, October-December 2007, p 382. 3 Ibid, page 391.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Manipur: Safeguarding of the claims, the editor will have the right to delete the
Media Autonomy offending sections from any statement.
All media organizations and professionals will follow

W ith militant groups proliferating, the journalists of

Manipur united in October 2001 to adopt a shared
code of conduct. With a few amendments, the code was
the norms of journalistic conduct laid down by the Press
Council of India, in matters involving sensationalistic and
insensitive portray of events or personalities. Editors would
reaffirmed by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union take full responsibility for the tone and content of their
(AMWJU) in June 2005. The code is actuated by a complex coverage, including for omissions and commissions that
mix of objectives: to reassert editorial autonomy in the may be regarded as offensive.
news dissemination process, while providing fair coverage Where there are legitimate expectations or anxieties
to voices of dissent and ensuring that the media are not that a particular news report could create communal
seen under circumstances as accessories to acts tension or offence, editors would have the right to
of violence. delete or omit the concerned material. In all but the
The first challenge the media had to face was that of minor grievances that could be settled through a letter
identifying what voices of dissent have a legitimate claim to the editor of the concerned news organisation, the
to being represented in the media, irrespective of their AMWJU would be the first agency or institution that
status under the law. A basic requirement that the media should be approached by any aggrieved person. AMWJU
has imposed, is that every statement or claim should would address the concerned grievance according to its
have an identifiable source. And that once the source is transparent set of norms and criteria. And if there has
identified, the editor will decide on how strong the claim been a violation of the code of conduct, it would institute
to fair coverage is. Any invitation to a press conference, appropriate sanctions.
similarly, should have an identifiable source and press Needless to say, the AMWJU’s most significant
releases should be duly signed and bear an organisational difficulties have been with instituting the kind of sanctions
seal on its letterhead. All invitations and press releases that could deter repeated breaches of the code. A further
should be distributed by the organisation concerned and in source of difficulty is the unrelenting attitude of the
no instance will a journalist or a media organisation take state government and the security forces deployed in
on the responsibility on behalf of any political group. large numbers in Manipur. In August 2007, the Home
When rival claims are made by organisations that Department of the Government of Manipur issued an order
conform to all the above requirements, the editor will use which permitted for the confiscation of any media material
his discretion and in most instances, give equal space to referring to banned organisations or their personnel, in
both. If there is a threat to human life inherent in any whatever form.

Assam’s journalists – represented by the Journalists’ scene as an accessory of the Government’s anti-insurgency
Union of Assam (JUA) and the Assam Union of Working efforts. The Bodo groups in turn are split, with one
Journalists (AUWJ) – took up a program of agitation, and arriving at a ceasefire agreement with the state and union
seemingly won an important concession when the state governments in 2003, negotiating an agreement to
Government handed over the investigation of the case to ensure Bodo tribal territorial autonomy. The other group
the CBI, an agency that putatively would remain immune continues its insurgency, but again underwent a split
to local pressures. Yet in rendering his judgment of acquittal in December 2008 between a faction that favoured a
of the sole accused, the trial judge reserved special words of suspension of military operations and another which
censure for the investigating agency, pointing out numerous thought otherwise.
procedural lapses and a conspicuous failure of witness The two most recent killings of journalists in Assam
protection, which led several crucial witnesses to withhold – Jagjit Saikia in November 2008 and Anil Mozumdar in
evidence or turn hostile. Das’s is one name among a grim March 2009 – are believed by state police to have been the
catalogue of 20 journalists who have been murdered in direct outcome of their involvement, overt and covert, in
Assam since 1990. these insurgencies. These connections were widely known
The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and talked about, though little was done to restrain the
and numerous Bodo groups constitute the most active journalists involved, whether by newspaper managements
insurgencies in Assam. These cooperate in a contingent or local authorities. This points to the deeper problem where
fashion, despite their sharply conflicting political and journalists are often used as conduits by business groups and
territorial agendas. ULFA has gone through several schisms state agencies seeking to establish some form of contact with
and a distinct outfit constituted by surrendered banned underground groups. Conclusive proof that these
members of the organisation (which designates itself two murders were connected with the victims’ proximity to
the “surrendered” ULFA or SULFA) has appeared on the underground groups has not been advanced, nor would such

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Rishikanta Singh's murder in Manipur's capital city in November 2008, led to an eight-day long agitation (photos courtesy: Sobhapati Samom)

proof, if available, mitigate the need for determined pursuit Most of these are constituted on ethnic lines, and allegiances
of those responsible. shift frequently. Even for a journalist who chooses to play
safe and not get on the wrong side of the authorities or the
Crises of Livelihoods and Ethical Standards insurgent groups, these frequent shifts in allegiance pose a
However these legal and judicial matters are settled, they hazard.
point towards a wider ethical malady of journalism. These events taking place in India’s distant borders do
Journalists in India’s metropolitan centres often lose sight not feature prominently in national media. And reporting
of the situation their colleagues in the outer reaches of from these districts is an unending battle against overt
the nation confront – poor pay or none at all, no letters threats by the militant groups and the natural human
of appointment or defined working conditions, and little tendency to take sides. The situation is muddied to the
assurance that media owners will back them when they face extent that even legitimate professional contacts with
local tensions over news stories. insurgent groups are impossible without attracting the taint
There is no professional code that prohibits a journalist of partisanship. Government authorities have often entered
from holding any political view – short of one that actively into negotiations with underground groups on territorial
advocates violence or glories in its exercise. But Assam’s and political issues. But an unbiased and accurate portrayal
journalists concede that both Saikia and Mozumdar may of these groups’ agendas in the media is often discouraged
have overstepped several ethical thresholds in the mode of by the common tendency displayed by parties locked in
their association with insurgent groups. Both may have been conflict: the denial of a voice to opposing sides. Indeed,
involved in financial transactions on behalf of these groups, journalists who seek to achieve this manner of portrayal
which in turn may have involved the abuse of their identity of the militant movements end up at risk. The outcome is
as journalists. to seriously impair one possible means through which the
Aside from these bonds of choice between journalists media could contribute to conflict resolution, by promoting
and underground groups, there are also associations a public dialogue between contending groups.
born of compulsion. Poor pay and working conditions
– and media groups’ indifference to the needs of quality Jammu and Kashmir: Opening up Spaces
journalism – make journalists potential accomplices In the two decades since a militancy erupted in the Kashmir
in overt and covert political agendas which promise valley, the media has gone through various phases in its
them a basic level of material security and well-being. fraught relationship with state agencies. In 1996, when
The malaise has become so deep-rooted that journalists in elections were under way in Jammu and Kashmir (or J&K),
recent times have been known to volunteer their unpaid the only means the media had to deal with the multiple
labour in several of the more troubled districts of Assam, pressures it faced was to shut down. In the 2002 electoral
since greater rewards lie in parlaying the identity of a media cycle, the media managed to function with relatively little
person into material gain. pressure.
Besides ULFA and the Bodo groups, Assam has a The 2008 elections took place in the aftermath of
multiplicity of other militant groups and political prolonged and widespread civil disturbances, following
movements with the potential to break out in insurgency. the controversy over allotment of land to a religious trust.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Beginning with mass protests in the Kashmir valley, the narrative. Yet the practice of journalism and the manner in
political crisis was qualitatively transformed when retaliatory which attributions are made seems clearly to proclaim that
actions began in the Jammu region. A few days into the certain stories are featured under duress. It has been a long
crisis, a conclave of the Kashmir valley’s most senior and hard process of negotiation, but because of the high
journalists resolved that state authorities should adopt a international visibility of the Kashmir issue and the greater
policy of complete transparency with the media and the degree of public scrutiny exercised over agencies in the state,
general public in Kashmir about all ongoing incidents of the authorities have been compelled to yield ground. This
violence and lawlessness in both the Jammu region and the ongoing process of negotiation does not however ensure the
Kashmir valley. security of journalists.
However, the situation deteriorated and a blanket curfew These tensions begin with the basic vocabulary of
was imposed in the valley on August 23. Newspapers in conflict reporting, in the choice between the use of “dispute”
Srinagar failed to print for six consecutive days on account or “problem” – to discuss the status of Kashmir – and
of severe restrictions on the movement of journalists and between “terrorist” or “militant” to describe the insurgent
other media employees. Security agencies also compelled elements. Journalists’ dispatches are commonly edited,
local cable news channels to suspend broadcasts or to air headlined and laid out on the page by colleagues in distant
only entertainment programs. centres such as Jammu and New Delhi, who may not be
Fifteen journalists and media workers were reported aware of the daily compulsions that colleagues working on
injured on August 24 in targeted attacks by personnel the ground face.
deployed for special security duties. The injured included The militancy imposes its own censorship on journalists
journalists from India’s two main news agencies, the Press and the media. News reports that inconvenience militant
Trust of India and the United News of India, who had been groups and, in particular, call into question the commitment
trying to go to their places of work. of Pakistan to the cause, are severely restricted. When
Three English language newspapers in Srinagar – Greater respected political leaders in Kashmir are reviled by state
Kashmir, Etalaat and Rising Kashmir – posted website notices agencies on the other side of the Line of Control that divides
regretting their failure to publish because staff could not India from Pakistan, or when training camps for militants
travel to work. The Urdu language press was also paralysed. are shut down under the pressure of coercive diplomacy by
News websites during this period were updated sporadically India and its western allies, media outlets in Kashmir come
only because some employees were confined to their offices under pressure to ensure that public perceptions of the
by the curfew. At the same time, in a cycle of attacks and objectives of the militancy are not undermined. Commonly
retaliation, copies of the Daily Excelsior, published from faced with the threat of lethal force for reporting in a
the city of Jammu, were burnt in a locality of Srinagar, manner that displeases one side or the other, journalists opt
for its ostensible indifference to the protests in the for self-censorship rather than truth-telling.
Kashmir valley. Kashmiri journalists have also suffered prolonged
As in most areas of conflict, Kashmir witnesses a imprisonment on ill-defined charges. Typically, agitational
tendency for contesting parties to deny others a voice, efforts by local journalists in the cause of fairness and justice
except where it suits their interest. A central question in these cases have been deterred by the pervasive threat of
confronting the media community in Kashmir is whether retribution. Maqbool Sahil, of the daily Chattan, was picked
the voice of ordinary people has been heard through up in September 2004. Though charges were never framed,
the media or stifled, all through the years of conflict it was widely put out that he had been engaged in spying
and insurgency. Among journalists in Kashmir there for a hostile neighbouring state. Journalists in Kashmir took
is recognition that the voice of the people, as reflected up his cause but failed to make much of an impact. It was
through the media, has been subdued to an extent. The only when the media community in the national capital
main difficulty encountered by journalists in Kashmir is the joined the cause that Sahil began to see the light at the
overlapping of several narratives: the local, the national and end of a long tunnel. Similarly, Iftikhar Gilani, Delhi-based
the global. Linked to this is the narrative that emerges from correspondent for the Kashmir Times daily, was arrested from
Pakistan’s long-standing political intervention in Kashmir, his home in Delhi in June 2002 and charged three months
and that country’s seemingly unending turbulence. later under the archaic Official Secrets Act. The documents
As in most other parts of India with a history of conflict, found in his possession that supposedly incriminated him
the state and the security agencies are a major source of news were in reality available in the public ___domain and had been
in Kashmir. Journalists are often under compulsion to report extracted from various websites. His cause was taken up by
in accordance with the state’s views. This sets up a conflict numerous journalists’ groups – both in Kashmir and Delhi –
in terms of ethical practice, since the inputs received from and he was released in January 2003 after the Government
official sources are often at variance with the information admitted that it had no case. The campaigns and petitions
gathered first-hand by journalists. undertaken by Kashmiri journalists were vital in securing
In reconciling these conflicts, the media community in Gilani’s freedom. But they only gained the requisite traction
Kashmir maintains the tough language of confrontation, when journalists and civil society groups in the national
though it has also to accommodate the officially determined capital joined in.

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Maoist Insurgency in the Heartland incident.4 Also recorded in this news report was the effort by
The Central Indian plateau, embracing parts of five police in Chhattisgarh to control all movement into and out
Indian states – Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, of the site of the incident. As reported in the newspaper, on
Maharashtra and Jharkhand – is another area of extreme January 15, armed police “lined the length of the highway
risk for journalism. Illustratively, in October 2009, just from Dantewada town to Konta, the block headquarters
as a major counter-insurgency operation got under way in closest to Gompad, stopping vehicles and questioning
this region, three journalists in Chhattisgarh were issued commuters”. The reporter for The Hindu, who was travelling
notices by police, ordering them to reveal the sources
with two Dantewada-based journalists, Anil Mishra of Nai
of reports either published or broadcast. Two journalists
Duniya and Yashwant Yadav of Navbharat, “was repeatedly
working for widely circulated Hindi-language dailies
detained along the route and told that Gompad village was
were asked to reveal their sources for a report suggesting
that innocent villagers were killed in an anti-insurgency out of bounds as a major anti-Naxal operation was under
operation by security forces in a remote southern part of way”.
the state. In a separate case, a TV news channel reporter Mishra and Yadav are active members of the CSPS in
was asked to present himself before the local police Dantewada district. Their narration of the event is that the
in Kanker district, for broadcasting a Maoist claim of local media was unable to track the Gompad event and
responsibility for the murder of a local political figure. its aftermath on account of numerous constraints. First,
A senior police officer in the state was also reported to there was an active effort to deny them access to the site
have sanctioned aggressive measures, including firing at and to authentic information. Second, a climate of actively
journalists who cross into Chhattisgarh from neighbouring deterring critical reporting had been created since about
districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh to report on anti- July 2009, when a major security operation was launched
insurgency operations. in the Maoist insurgency areas. Finally, the escalation in the
The local journalists’ union, the Chhattisgarh Shramjeevi scope of the armed confrontation since then had fed public
Patrakar Sangh (CSPS or the Chhattisgarh Working susceptibility to repeated warnings by official spokesmen
Journalists’ Union), held a meeting on October 12 to discuss that Maoism constituted the foremost internal security
the threats. It resolved to undertake a major campaign to challenge to India.
generate public awareness on media freedom issues in a Being a national newspaper with multiple editions
situation of sharpening conflict. and a long history behind it, The Hindu was able to take
Journalists in the Maoist insurgency area are often the kind of risks in the context of the Gompad incident
intimidated into silence by a climate of intolerance that the local media – smaller and financially less sound –
promoted by state authorities. Media function, in the could not. In this respect, the scenario for the local media
words of a journalist in Jagdalpur, principal town in the had changed drastically with the launch of a vigorous
Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, “under the pressure of new phase in the anti-insurgency operations in July 2009.
circumstances”. By way of comparison, in January 2009, when a security
In September 2009, security agencies carried out what operation in the village of Singavaram in the south of
they called a major security operation in the village of Chhattisgarh turned out, like the later Gompad incident,
Gachanpalli in southern Chhattisgarh. Thirty Maoist to have targeted innocent tribal villagers rather than active
insurgents and six security personnel were reportedly killed. insurgents, the local press stepped up with searching news
A few days later, on October 1, 2009, an operation in the reports that encouraged local civil society organisations
village of Gompad in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh to take up the matter through a writ petition in the
state resulted in 12 alleged Maoist insurgents being killed. High Court, demanding accountability from the state
In January 2010, India’s Supreme Court ordered the Government. Clearly, the press in the Maoist insurgency
transfer to a medical institution in Delhi of a witness who areas needs to rediscover that elan and not be deterred by
had suffered a serious leg injury in the second incident. the heightened mood of public insecurity that has arisen
While she was being transferred through the state capital since July 2009.
of Raipur, journalists seeking to meet her were denied
access. The Inspector-General of Police for Bastar, the top Security Laws Breed Insecurity
police official in the insurgency-affected areas of Special security laws in force in the regions of conflict
Chattisgarh, admits that he received complaints from include the Public Safety Act in Kashmir, the Armed Forces
journalists at the time and that this had prompted an Special Powers Act in Kashmir and the North-East, and the
inquiry with the local Superintendent of Police (SP). The Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act in Chhattisgarh.
explanation he obtained was simply that the media had These laws have certain common features in empowering
been kept away in compliance with advice received from security agencies to act with a relatively high degree of
doctors treating the witness. impunity in defined situations when “unlawful activities”
On January 17, The Hindu became the first major national
newspaper to report on the police effort to control the 4 See the news report on the website of The Hindu, available at this writing
at: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/17/stories/2010011761241000.
movements of this and two other witnesses to the Gompad htm

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

The NHRC decided the case after close

to five years, ruling it an “extraordinary”
one involving a journalist exercising his
right to report and inform. It ordered
state authorities in Uttar Pradesh to pay
financial damages amounting to
` 500,000 to Samiuddin and file a
compliance report within six weeks.
In another important move, the Press
Council of India (PCI) heard Samiuddin’s
case and called for six-monthly reports on
his security for the five years following,
from the state authorities. The PCI, which
inquired into the matter through its own
processes, described Samiuddin’s as “a rare
case that calls for serious attention”.
The role of the NHRC and the PCI
in defending press freedom has come
to the foreground with this and various
Vigilante attacks are a constant threat as Lokmat IBN TV discovered when it aired a discussion critical of a party that other cases. There have however been no
once led the ruling coalition in Maharashtra state (photo courtesy: Deepak Salvi)
consistent standards for the invocation of
are suspected. The definition of “unlawful activities” the jurisdiction of these bodies. And the lengthy procedures
again is over-broad and in terms of reporting these, even of fact-finding and adjudication that they follow render their
factual accounts of militant activity could often attract the utility in a situation of urgency somewhat shallow.
accusation of “aiding and abetting” a banned organisation. The PCI had in 2007 constituted a team to inquire into
Journalists also sometimes feel deterred in reporting the state of press freedom in Assam and other north-eastern
common issues of governance in the areas of the Maoist states, after being apprised of an alarming escalation in
insurgency. It is now part of the official commonsense – threats faced by journalists from armed insurgent groups.
endorsed by officials as senior as the Indian Prime Minister The findings of this inquiry, together with an extensive list
and the Union Home Minister – that the institutions of of recommendations, were published in the annual report of
governance have been seriously remiss in areas of the the PCI for 2007-08.5
Maoist insurgency, that the violence there indeed may be Journalists all over India have been using the authority
an outcome of the chronic inability of the state agencies of the PCI and the NHRC to defend their rights. In certain
to deliver the security and welfare benefits for which they areas, state human rights bodies are also possible arbiters in
are mandated. This has brought about a heightened degree issues involving press freedom.
of public scrutiny over the officials posted into the more
troubled areas – an inconvenience that they seek to deflect Terror Strikes and the Media
by every available means, including by accusing critical On February 13, 2010, a bomb went off in a popular eatery
reporters of Maoist sympathies. in Pune, a town 220 km from India’s commercial metropolis
Journalists also often face challenges in areas that are not of Mumbai. India and Pakistan were on the verge of
understood to be conflict-prone in the conventional sense. commencing a renewed dialogue to settle at least some issues
An instance is Samiuddin, alias Nilu, correspondent for the in their tortured mutual history. Much of the mainstream
Hindi daily Amar Ujala in Lakhimpur Kheri district in the media commentary tended to interpret the Pune blast as
northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Threatened at various times an active effort to scotch the prospects of reconciliation
by local police beginning in 2004, he was snatched in May between estranged neighbours.
2005 while on his way home from work, by persons believed Press reporters who sought to access the hospital sites
to be from a special police group. where the injured from the Pune blast had been taken were
Samiuddin’s troubles are believed to have begun after he blocked and told that they had no permission to visit those
filed a series of reports documenting arbitrary actions and still under trauma.
the harassment of innocent people by the local police. His The following day, Pune’s Commissioner of Police held
abduction in May 2006 could according to investigations a press conference at which he was summary in all his
subsequently carried out by India’s National Human Rights responses, sharp in putting down any questions about the
Commission (NHRC), have had fatal consequences, but conduct of his police force, and devastating in his dismissal
for the precaution he had taken of registering a formal of any claim that the press should have had access to the
complaint with the watchdog body, apprehending a threat witnesses to the bombing. The media were kept out with
to his life. Once informed that the matter was under NHRC
consideration, Samiuddin’s captors reportedly let him off.
5 The report is available at: http://presscouncil.nic.in/HOME.HTM.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

deliberate intent, said Pune’s top policeman, since access to attack in November 2008, media credibility was as much
the witnesses could potentially jeopardise investigations. under scrutiny as the state agencies’ preparedness to
Politicians could not be denied access though, since they face such contingencies. Again the DUJ responded with
were the main agency through which relief could be a significant and deeply analytical study of the media
administered to the victims. response to terrorism.8 And at the one-year anniversary of
Two weeks after the bombing, the Pune police were the Mumbai attacks, a member of the Mumbai union asked a
being questioned for their failure to find any possible lead to very pertinent question: “If justice is all it takes to break the
identify the perpetrators. An arrest was effected on May 24 cycle of conflict and tragedy, when will the media begin to
of a person who was reported to be a suspect. He was granted speak of it?”9
bail on June 15 by a sessions court which was not convinced
by the evidence provided by police. India-Pakistan Engagement and the Media
India has been a target of terrorism, more than most Cross-border water flows in the Indus river system have
other countries, in the past 10 years. The attack on the recently emerged as a contentious issue between India
Parliament compound in Delhi in December 2001 and and Pakistan. Given the technical complexities involved,
the commando-style raids in the heart of the commercial the media has not quite been able to get a grasp on the
metropolis of Mumbai in November 2008 book-end a various implications of the Indus Waters Treaty, concluded
sequence of horrific terrorist bombings in numerous other between the two countries in 1960. But a Harvard
cities, typically targeting vital nodes and facilities of urban University-based water resources expert, has made the
life and designed to cause maximum loss of life and sap civic following telling observation: “Living in Delhi and working
confidence. These years have also seen the enactment and in both India and Pakistan, I was struck by a paradox.
subsequent repeal of a draconian Prevention of Terrorism One country was a vigorous democracy, the other a
Act (PoTA) by the central Government, the banning of military regime. But whereas an important part of the
several political groups and the prosecution of numerous Pakistani press regularly reported India’s views on the
individuals on charges of terrorism. water issue in an objective way, the Indian press never
Security agencies, including the state police forces, have did the same.”10
acquired certain special powers to deal with the terrorist The explanation, this observer found, lay in the degree
threat, typically involving expanded powers of arrest and to which the media in the two countries was responsive
restrictions on the flow of information. Yet the media has to the official diktat, in matters involving their mutual
been able to uncover significant facts and report quite relations. As India and Pakistan moved into a new phase
substantially on many of the ongoing investigations into of engagement in February 2010, the media tended to be
these terror strikes. thoroughly negative. Little was expected from the meeting
The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a very important of top officials from the two countries’ foreign ministries
study of media reporting on a major event in the counter- when they met on February 25. And little was delivered.
terrorism campaign – the armed encounter in which two This brings up the point whether the media in the two
youths were shot dead in Delhi’s south-eastern suburb of countries have condemned their publics to the tyranny of
Jamia Nagar in September 2008 – has pointed out how the low expectations.
narrative on terrorism that the media has put together is An interesting development that the newspaper-
often inconsistent and potentially damaging to the social reading publics in India and Pakistan woke up to at the
image of a particular religious community.6 The Mail Today, dawn of the new year in 2010 was the “Aman ki Asha”
a morning tabloid and the most recent entrant into the (or quest for peace) initiative launched by the
crowded market for dailies in New Delhi, ran a sequence Times of India group in India and the Jang group in
of stories about the dubious circumstances of the armed Pakistan. These are the biggest media houses in their
encounter, suggesting with an abundance of evidence that respective countries, with solidly entrenched interests in
the police force was covering up the possible killing of newspapers, TV and radio. How this initiative will shape
innocents with elaborate stories of their involvement in up remains to be seen. But at this writing, the public mood
terrorist crimes.7 is sceptical. No one is quite willing to believe that this
Typically, the security mindset talks about controlling the initiative has anything to do with truly articulating the
flow of information, while the civic interest is in enhancing popular desire for peace, rather than with tapping another
access, so that the police agencies function, as they should, avenue of commercial profit.
as responsible agents of the public interest.
When several landmark sites in Mumbai came under 8 See Anjali Deshpande and S.K. Pande, “Three Days of Mumbai Terror
Reporting”, at http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.
php?sid=3490&bg=1, which is an excerpt from the full study, available
6 Excerpts from the study are available at: http://www.thehoot.org/web/ on request from the DUJ office.
home/searchdetail.php?sid=3360&bg=1 and http://www.thehoot.org/ 9 Geeta Seshu, “26/11 myth making: to what purpose?”, available at:
web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=3367&bg=1 http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=4219&bg=1.
7 Mail Today through the month of October 2008 carried numerous 10 John Briscoe, “War or Peace on the Indus”, extracted from: http://
reports questioning the official narration. These can be accessed through thesouthasianidea.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/war-or-peace-on-the-
the newspaper archives at www.mailtoday.in indus/.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

NEPAL
Protecting a Fledgling
Democracy

P
rivately-owned media in Nepal emerged with
the establishment of democracy in 1990 through
the Jana Andolan, or people’s movement, which
followed decades of autocratic rule under the Rana
dynasty and the royally-mandated Panchayat system.
This experiment with multi-party democracy soon
came to an end after the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist) began an uprising which it called a “people’s
war” in 1996. Throughout these tumultuous events,
Nepal’s media struggled to keep the torch of freedom
burning amid immense difficulties: geographically
spread and remote or inaccessible mountain areas, poor
infrastructure, widespread illiteracy, and extreme poverty.
According to statistics compiled by the Federation
of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), 31 media people have been
killed since July 2001 as a direct consequence of their
work. Alarmingly, almost as many media workers were
killed after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005,
as at the height of the conflict. The political instability
following the return of democracy in 2006 has not made
matters easier for the media, which had already been
tested by a decade-long insurgency.
The ongoing transition to democracy has been far
from smooth. Former Maoist combatants are yet to be
integrated into the security apparatus of the state, and Journalists through the years of royal absolutism confronted tough situations on a daily basis
(photo courtesy: Bikash Karki)
the onerous task of writing a new Constitution still
remains to be attended to. The absence of decisive political In December 2009, following publication of an article
leadership has added to the prevailing social, political and critical of the Maoists in the locally-published Jantidhara,
economic uncertainty. Bista was slashed with razor blades, thrown off a cliff and
Recent killings of media owners reflect a general state of left to die near her home in Rukum in Nepal’s far west. This
lawlessness, especially in the southern plains, or the terai gruesome attack occurred less than a year after Uma Singh,
region. On July 22, 2010, Radio Tulsipur FM chairman Devi a courageous young journalist, was brutally murdered in
Prasad Dhital was shot dead by unidentified assailants. Janakpur town in the terai. Although some arrests were
Dhital was the third media owner to be murdered in Nepal made, those behind her killing are said to be at large.
in six months. Earlier, in February, the chairman of Channel
Nepal television and the satellite Space Time Network, Monarchy to Maoism: Media Under Stress
Jamim Shah, was gunned down on a busy Kathmandu In the years since 1996, the Maoist insurgency has
road by masked attackers. Less than a month later, Arun dominated Nepal’s politics. The rebels, led by Pushpa Kamal
Singhaniya, the chairman of the Today Group, which Dahal, alias Prachanda, operated mainly in Nepal’s remote
publishes the daily newspaper Janakpur Today and owns rural and mountainous areas, characterised by grinding
the radio station of the same name, was shot dead by an poverty, neglect and illiteracy.
unidentified gang on motorcycles outside his home in Kathmandu’s Narayanhity Palace, home of the royal
Janakpur in Dhanusha district.  family, was the scene of a grisly incident in June 2001,
Journalists in Nepal have continuously borne the brunt when the reigning monarch Birendra, his wife Aishwarya
of official ire. They have also had in more recent times and eight other members of the royal family were murdered.
to face the easily roused anger of Maoist rebels and the Dipendra, son of the king and first in line of succession to
various armed groups in the terai. The abduction of the the throne, was alleged to have carried out the massacre
vice-president of FNJ’s Pyuthan chapter and a reporter with before turning the gun on himself. The crown prince
FM broadcaster Mandavi Radio, Keshav Bohara, in late June died three days later, leaving the way open for his uncle
2010 are examples of the daily risks that journalists face. Gyanendra to take over. Numerous conspiracy theories
Journalists in the districts are particularly vulnerable, as in emerged about the killings. An official probe found
the case of Tika Bista, a reporter with the daily Rajdhani. Dipendra guilty of the murders.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

powers, detained political leaders, and

immediately suspended press feedom
on February 1, 2005. The army entered
newsrooms and privately-owned television
and radio stations, and ordered that work
stop immediately. Phone and internet
lines were cut for three days, and mobile
phone connections for weeks. Individuals
smuggled out dispatches through any
means available to break through the
information blackout. A notice issued two
days after the royal takeover warned:
“considering the nation and national
interest, His Majesty’s Government has
banned for six months any interview,
article, news, notice, view or personal
opinion that goes against the letter and
spirit of the Royal Proclamation on 1
Feb 2005 and that directly or indirectly
Journalists scuffle with riot police in Kathmandu during the protest against killing of media entrepreneur Arun Singhania supports destruction and terrorism”.
(photo courtesy: Rajesh Dhungana)
Then followed a stringent period
A brief ceasefire between the Government and the of censorship. Armed men in green were soon replaced
Maoist insurgents followed the palace massacre. When the by military intelligence personnel intruding into editorial
ceasefire collapsed in November 2001, the Government offices. The Nepali media though, launched an effective
declared a state of emergency. What followed was more than resistance, with satirical and tongue-in-cheek retorts. The
three years of pressure on civil liberties, when a number of Kathmandu Post, one of Nepal’s largest circulating English-
journalists and media workers were killed, detained or taken language dailies, ran a satirical editorial titled “Socks in
hostage. Society”, on how socks without holes are a prestige symbol
On October 4, 2002, King Gyanendra dismissed the in a poor country like Nepal. The Nepali Times and Himal
parliamentary government, later reinstating the sacked Khabarpatrika left blank spaces where copy had been
prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his cabinet, while censored. Another tactic was an obstinate silence, and Nepali
retaining control over security and obtaining a free hand weeklies such as Deshantar and Bimarsh left the editorial
in dealing with the Maoist insurgency. Even during the space blank. This act of defiance led the Chief District
ceasefire right through 2003, there was a steady deterioration Officer, the head of local civil administration in Kathmandu
of human rights in Nepal, with press freedom and freedom to summon five editors and interrogate them. Their release
of expression under severe pressure. was only secured after they signed a statement undertaking
The media was squeezed between the monarchy and the to report to the authorities whenever summoned.
Maoists, victim to atrocities committed by both the army When leaving editorial space blank was prohibited,
and the rebels. Detention under draconian anti-terror laws, another form of rebellion by an editor of Sanghu, a Nepali
disappearances, abduction, torture and murder were common. weekly, was to delete his name from the space where it
The situation for journalists and the press did not improve would normally have appeared as “Editor and Publisher”.
significantly after the state of emergency was lifted on August “I am no longer the editor of my own publication,” he said
29, 2002. Following the collapse of another ceasefire on at the time. “If the security personnel who censor my copy
August 27, 2003, journalists were displaced from their work would reveal their names, I’d put them down as the ‘true’
zones after receiving direct and indirect threats from the editors.”
parties in conflict. In 2004, the Working Group on Enforced Pressure to comply with official “guidelines” was also
or Involuntary Disappearances established by the United implemented by controlling advertising spending. After
Nations’s human rights body submitted a documentation of a “one-door” policy for distributing advertisements was
130 cases of what were prima facie, enforced disappearances, enforced in mid-September 2005, critical media were denied
to the Government. This grim tally was among the highest government-paid advertisements. Indeed, the criteria
number recorded in any country that year. This period of for qualifying for government advertising included the
deteriorating law and order became the justification for one of “positive involvement” shown in building the morale of
the most repressive events in Nepal’s history. security forces. Failure to do so would potentially cut off
an essential source of revenue, especially for smaller weekly
The Royal Coup: Test of the Independent Media and fortnightly newspapers. Most private sector advertising
On the grounds that elected governments were doing is limited to the dailies, while the Government controls 30
little to handle the insurgency, Gyanendra seized all to 40 per cent of the roughly NPR (Nepali Rupees) 2 billion

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

(about USD 26.5 million) advertising

pie. Many smaller newspapers and radio
stations became unviable and were forced
to fold.

Unions Fight for Press freedom

Professional bodies of lawyers, teachers
and engineers protested, and coalitions for
democracy were formed. Journalists were
at the forefront of the agitations, under
the banner of the Federation of Nepali
Journalists (FNJ), considered a
non-partisan umbrella organisation. The
Press Chautari, Nepal Press Union (NPU),
the Krantikari Patrakar Sangh, and other
party-affiliated unions were also active,
although most of their activists went
underground fearing arrest. “At the time,
A news photographer helps a woman injured in street violence in Kathmandu (photo courtesy: Kiran Panday)
it was very important to be vocal,” says
Shiva Gaunle, FNJ treasurer during the
crucial period of 2002-2004, and vice-president Draconian Laws and Proactive Judiciary
from 2005-08. “Even the simple act of releasing a press The draconian Media Ordinance promulgated on October
statement critical of the king’s actions was a daring act, 9, 2005, and renewed in April 2006, attempted to provide
which became a rallying point for those who loved press legal cover for the government restrictions to suppress
freedom and democracy.” The media industry was also freedom of the media and the right of Nepali citizens to
at the vanguard of mobilising democratic forces under receive independent information. The Ordinance effectively
the banner of the Professional Alliance for Peace and amended six key media laws: the Radio Act, 1958; National
Democracy (PAPAD). Broadcasting Act, 1992; the Press Council Act, 1992; the
So influential were the journalist bodies under the Press and Publication Act, 1992; the National News Agency
FNJ umbrella, that repeated attempts were made from the Act, 1962; and the Libel and Defamation Act, 1959. The
royalist side to weaken its solidarity. A National Federation FNJ raised its voice against the Ordinance, which has since
of Journalists was set up with pronounced royalist been used to justify raids on radio stations, seizure of radio
sympathies, backed by generous government funding. transmission equipment, restrictions on news broadcasts
While this move to create divisions among the journalists’ and the detention and harassment of journalists. The FNJ
community was ineffective, many journalists in state- also mounted a legal challenge to the Ordinance, on the
owned media (National News Agency and Radio Nepal) lost grounds that it violated the 1990 Constitution, in particular
their jobs for refusing to join the new organisation. “It is the guarantee of freedom of expression. After twice putting
ironic that journalists’ struggles contributed to paving the the application of the Ordinance in abeyance, the Supreme
way for democracy, but freedom of expression is not yet Court of Nepal finally upheld its validity. It was only after
guaranteed,” says Poshan KC, secretary-general of the FNJ the king gave in to the democracy movement in May 2006
at the time of this writing. and reinstated parliament that the Ordinance was annulled.
The lifting of the emergency on April 29, 2005, did little The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention and
to improve press freedom. Journalists across the country, Control) Ordinance (TADO) issued in 2001, and extended
especially in remote districts, suffered killings, violent in 2005 and again in 2006, criminalised the very act of
attacks, intimidation, harassment and displacement, targeted dissemination of independent news. The Ordinance, with
by both the Government and the Maoist forces. its provision for detention without hearing, was used to
The conditions faced by local media in the districts were arbitrarily harass and detain media practitioners. The Public
particularly harsh, caught as they were between the Royal Security Act of 1989 (PSA) was also routinely used to curb
Nepal Army and the Maoists. Pressure, coercion and direct freedom of expression and freedom of association. After the
threats to censor or alter news content were common. Media popular movement of April 2006 known as the Jana Andolan
facilities and infrastructure were vulnerable to being shut II, the most notable use of the PSA has been to detain scores
down, deliberately damaged or removed by one or the other of Tibetans protesting in the lead-up to the Olympic Games
combatant side. The chain of production to distribution was in Beijing in 2008.
liable to be disrupted to prevent the delivery of independent The Supreme Court of Nepal played a significant
news. The emergence of armed vigilante groups in certain role during the insurgency and the movement to restore
areas, particularly in the terai ahead of the peace process, democracy and rule of law. In numerous cases of illegal
also posed a serious threat to media practitioners. arrests and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings,

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Missions Save Lives districts were carried out during this period. To mention

D uring the insurgency, and in particular after the

2005 royal coup, journalists were besieged by both
the Maoists and the state. Censorship, bans, criminal
some of the important missions: to Dailekh (to release
a Kantipur reporter from the army’s custody); Sindhuli
(rehabilitation of two journalists displaced to Kathmandu
intimidation, kidnapping and disappearance were routine, after death threats from a chief district officer); Kanchanpur
as were assaults, occasionally fatal. The FNJ began a (release of Khem Bhandari, a local newspaper editor from
dialogue with the Maoist Central Committee leaders in army custody); and Taplejung (to settle a case of physical
order to protect individual journalists and impress upon assault on a Kantipur reporter by Maoist cadres).
them the need for an independent media. Then FNJ central Dekendra Raj Thapa, a journalist with state-run
committee member Purna Basnet led a team to negotiate Radio Nepal, was killed by Maoist rebels on August
the release of Som Sharma, of the weekly Aankha. This 11, 2004, six weeks after he was abducted in the
Ilam-based journalist had been abducted on May 13, 2005, mountainous western district. An FNJ delegation met
reportedly for writing critically about the Maoists. A letter with Maoist rebels in Dailekh to appeal on Thapa’s behalf.
to his family informed them that Sharma was in the Maoist The rebels posted a notice at Thapa’s village, saying
“people’s custody” and would be killed. After conversations they had killed the journalist for spying. Local Maoist
with different leaders by email and phone, Sharma’s captors commanders announced they intended to kill 10 more
met the FNJ team. They then released him after 55 days journalists in nearby districts. Journalists took to the
in captivity. It was the first remarkable step to protect a streets of Kathmandu on August 18 to protest Thapa’s
journalist from the conflict. “After this successful rescue killing. In September, for the first time, Maoist spokesman
mission, a level of confidence in journalists was built up Krishna Bahadur Mahara wrote a letter to the FNJ in
all over the country,” Basnet says. “The credibility of the which he called the murder a breach of policy, promising
FNJ grew, since it had been just over a year since Dekendra to investigate the killing. The Maoists later admitted
Thapa had been abducted and killed after appeals to the a similar “breach” in the case of Gyanendra Khadka,
Maoists to release him failed.” a teacher who also worked with Rashtriya Samachar
Buoyed by the experience, the FNJ formed a committee Samiti (National News Agency) and who was murdered
to continue such interventions, and Basnet led several in September 2003 in Sindhupalchowk. But no written
rescue missions. More than 18 such missions in various apology was made.

the Government was compelled by habeas corpus writs, to bench of the Supreme Court of Nepal, comprising
produce illegally detained journalists in court. Significantly, Justice Khila Raj Regmi and Kalyan Shrestha, responding
the judiciary was instrumental in protecting the rights to 83 habeas corpus petitions, directed the Government to
of journalists across the political spectrum. According to (i) provide compensation to 83 families of persons who
lawyers Bhimarjun Acharya and Tikaram Bhattarai, as well were subjected to state-enforced disappearances;
as past FNJ presidents Bishnu Nisthuri and Taranath Dahal, (ii) promulgate an Act criminalising enforced
the number of killed and disappeared journalists would disappearances; and (iii) form a commission to investigate
have been very much higher in the absence of a relatively and thereafter prosecute those involved in the killing of
independent judiciary. The judiciary decided in favour of people in detention centres. In keeping with the court
journalists in more than 100 cases of habeas corpus writs in order, a draft bill on enforced disappearances was drafted
the Supreme Court and the country’s 16 appellate courts. in November 2008, though it is yet to be passed. The
Nepal has a high rate of enforced disappearances. The Maoist-led Government (which is no longer in power)
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary passed the Person Disappearance (Crime and Punishment)
Disappearances found that Nepal recorded the most Ordinance and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
disappearances in state custody worldwide in 2003 and Ordinance in January 2009. But their status remains
2004. The country’s judiciary played a crucial role in the controversial.
circumstances. As lawyer Kishor Uprety points out, “Nepal’s Another significant area of judicial intervention has
Supreme Court, in 2007, broke the long tradition of a been the protection of freedom of expression. During
conservative and passive approach to justice and issued a the insurgency and during the king’s takeover, the courts
significant verdict which could have a long-lasting effect interpreted legal provisions in favour of FM radio and media
on the country’s political governance, both from the houses, upholding the rights to information and free speech.
municipal as well as international law perspectives.”1 The This was particularly important at a time when the National
reference is to the ruling of June 1, 2007, when a division Human Rights Commission was weak. The Supreme Court
redefined press freedom in Nepal to include radio in a
1 Uprety, K. 2008. “Against Enforced Disappearance: the Political
Detainees’ Case before the Nepal Supreme Court”. Chinese Journal of
landmark case in 2001. It prevented closure of radio content
International Law. Vol. 7. No. 2. pp. 429–457 distributor Communications Corner in June 2005. At the

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

peak of suppression of the media in August

that year, the court ruled unconstitutional
the Government’s prohibition on news
broadcasts on FM radio, after a writ
was filed by an FM station. Similarly,
government orders to close FM stations by
seizing transmitters and other equipment
were suspended following interventions by
the Supreme Court.

The Radio Revolution

Nepal leads South Asia in radio
broadcasting, both in terms of outreach
and content. While in the rest of the
region governments and big corporations
continue to control the airwaves, and
private or community-owned FM
stations are confined to entertainment,
independent FM stations in Nepal produce
a variety of news, current affairs and With all the threats and challenges they face, Nepal's journalists are quick to every breaking news site
entertainment. There are currently 186 (photo courtesy: Kiran Panday)
radio stations in operation, with 323 with about 70 percent illiteracy and poor road and air
granted licences.2 connections in the hills. With the BBC’s Nepali service now
The history of radio in Nepal goes back to 1950, when the only source of news, scores of people, desperate for
the Nepali Congress Party was struggling against the feudal information, queued to buy short-wave radios.
Rana autocracy. The “freedom fighters” had launched “A group of journalists had developed networks in
Prajatantra Nepal Radio (Democratic Nepal Radio) from Indian cities along the border with Nepal, so as to bring out
Biratnagar in the eastern terai. Radio was used to promote newspapers and radio broadcasts if the Government was to
the party’s program for bringing in democratic politics. ban news media in the country,” says Prateek Pradhan, the
When the Rana monopoly over power was ended, the new then editor of the Kathmandu Post, the largest circulated
Government shifted the station to Kathmandu and renamed English-language daily. However, this manner of resistance
it Nepal Radio, later Radio Nepal. Gradually, however, this only prompted a further clampdown.
station became identified with the Government of the day, Besides depriving people of a source of independent
and lost some of its credibility as a news source. news, many radio stations collapsed as advertisers withdrew
It was not until 1997 that a few Nepali media activists sponsorship of popular programs that were no longer
and journalists together launched the country’s (and South permitted on air. About 1000 journalists working in FM
Asia’s) first community radio station in a modest one-room stations across the country were laid off.
studio in Kathmandu. Radio Sagarmatha was a harbinger Yet the crisis of the royal coup and the emergency
of the radio revolution, bringing in practices that could be that followed served to bring together journalists and
described as “public service broadcasting”. Once the FM media organisations to fight censorship and the closure
spectrum was prised out of government control, about 50 of radio stations. Under bodies such as the Association
FM stations were launched within a few years. Besides giving of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB, an
a boost to the music industry, FM radio rapidly became a umbrella organisation of community radio stations), the
major – and in many instances the only – source of news. Broadcasting Association of Nepal (BAN), Kathmandu Valley
This was legitimised by a landmark Supreme Court decision FM Broadcasters’ Forum and the Save Independent Radio
in 2001 which established the right of radio to broadcast Movement (SIRM), radio journalists mounted a campaign of
news. opposition.
After the 2005 royal coup, the Government banned The radio revolution was also at the forefront of the
the radio broadcast of news and news-related programs movement for democracy that had started growing in
for six months. FM radio had transformed access to news strength. The public imagination was fired by innovative
and information on current events. Radio has also made methods such as conducting requiems for radio,
newspapers more accessible through “what the papers say” accompanied by death rites; making “narrow-casts” over
segments. By cutting access to FM news, the king denied loudspeakers; and reading out the news on the streets. The
Nepalis a vital source of independent news, in a country defiance and creative resistance offered by radio journalists
inspired democracy-loving people across the country.
2 See Radio Station Information at http://www.nepalradio.org/p2_ Radio continues to hold sway in large swathes of
information.htm the country. According to a recent survey, in rural areas
Accessed September 16, 2010.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

the preference for radio over television was 2:1.3 Today, to Nepal in July 2005. This was followed by similar missions
the boom in the radio sector is manifest not only in the in March and September 2006, January and April 2008,
increased number of radio stations, but in the setting up and February 2009. The goal of the missions was to support
of more broadcast towers with higher signal strength and Nepali media in strengthening and defending freedom of
coverage. There is fierce competition for advertising revenue. expression and media rights. It required all organisations
For a land-locked economy trapped in endemic poverty, to speak with the same voice and pursue the same strategic
struggling to revive after 12 years of insurgency and political objectives.6
instability, this competition has grim forebodings for At a time of extreme isolation, the first mission achieved
independent media. Another concern is that more and more the objective of boosting the morale of journalists in the
untrained personnel are entering the sector, signalling an country, and legitimising their demands for democracy and
urgent need to codify ethics and guidelines for professional press freedom. Internationalising the Nepali movement for
journalism. The draft Radio Broadcasters’ Code of Conduct democracy was crucial, coming at a time when some western
and Operational Guidelines handbook developed in 2008 is countries were still largely supportive of the king, seeing him
a significant move toward self-regulation.4 as the sole bulwark against Maoist extremism.
The first three missions were reactions to serious threats.
International Solidarity The January 2008 mission was a reassessment effort, seeking
International agencies have had a crucial role to play in the to come up with long-term recommendations for media
peace process, such as the continuation of United Nations development. The April 2008 mission sought to monitor and
monitoring of cantonments housing former rebels. Aside protect media rights during Nepal’s Constituent Assembly
from this official engagement, international solidarity has elections. The February 2009 mission was a quick response
played an important part in highlighting human rights and to a serious upsurge in violence against the media.
press freedom violations. As pointed out in a Mission assessment report, “The
After the royal coup, five international press freedom International Media Mission was unable to immediately
missions visited Nepal to express solidarity with Nepali convince the Government to ease controls on the media, but
journalists and to exert pressure on the authorities. In was effective at creating and building cumulative pressure
addition, interventions by IFJ-established regional networks on the regime, which served as a deterrent against greater
such as the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN) controls.”7
showed how cross-border solidarity among journalists could
be a powerful source of pressure on national power-holders. Impunity: Achieving Closure and Justice
Journalists displaced by the conflict or at risk due to The decade-long insurgency witnessed a host of human
their writings sought refuge in India with the support of rights abuses – from torture and disappearances to extra-
international and regional networks. The important role judicial killings. The Royal Nepal Army and the Maoist
played by India in Nepali politics was recognised, and Peoples’ Liberation Army were both responsible for human
lobbying activities targeted India’s security establishment in rights violations. Several journalists were killed, tortured
New Delhi. Likewise, endorsements were obtained from well- and “disappeared” during and following this period. Even
known South Asian identities. These included former Indian after the formal end to the war, and the signing of the
prime minister I.K. Gujral, senior media columnist and Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the violence did not
former Member of Parliament in India Kuldip Nayar, Human immediately end. Notable killings in the post-conflict
Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jahangir, period include the murder of Uma Singh in January 2009.
and the editor of Pakistan’s Daily Times, Najam Sethi, who The body of Bara-based Avenues TV journalist Birendra Sah
wrote statements supporting restoration of democracy and was discovered in November 2007 after he was abducted
press freedom in Nepal. by Maoists in October 2007. The perpetrators are yet to be
“International networking is a major asset of the FNJ, brought to justice.
which we made full use of during the royal regime,” In the period during and after the conflict, a culture
says then FNJ general secretary Bishnu Nisthuri, who was of impunity has prevailed for attacks on journalists and
imprisoned during the coup. the media. Ending impunity is one of the important items
The first visible international intervention was an IFJ on the agenda of human rights organisations and press
mission led by its then president, Christopher Warren, a freedom advocates. After steady lobbying, however, the
week after the royal takeover. International Media Support FNJ has successfully pressured the Government to set up a
(IMS) in Copenhagen provided support. As the situation
deteriorated over the next few months, a coalition of about Journalists, International Media Support, International Press Institute,
12 organisations5 undertook another press freedom mission Press Institute of India, Reporters sans Frontières, South Asia Free
Media Association, UNESCO, World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters, World Association of Newspapers, World Press Freedom
3 See Broadcast Audience Survey (2006-2007) at http://www.nepalradio. Committee.
org/p3_audience_reports.htm Accessed September 16, 2010. 6 Bhattarai, Binod, 2008. Mission: Press Freedom: An account of the
4 See Radio Broadcasters’ Code of Conduct & Operational Guidelines 2008 International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression to Nepal,
at http://www.nepalradio.org/p2_coc.htm Accessed September 16, 2010. International Media Support, Copenhagen.
5 Article IXI, Committee to Protect Journalists, International Federation of 7 Ibid.

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Big Brother’s Long Arm investigations." But it was precisely this publicity and

I ndia’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized

a shipment of 1000 tonnes of newsprint imported from
Canada and South Korea en route to its destination in
pressure that led to the consignment of newsprint being
released on June 27.
That should have been the end of the story, except
Kathmandu on May 27, 2010. The 39 containers carrying that on August 27, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu
the newsprint were found to be in need of “investigation”. issued a press release speaking of “certain print and
For more than one month, the shipment, bound for the television media” that had been reporting “against products
Kantipur group of Kathmandu, which publishes the largest manufactured by Indian Joint Ventures in Nepal”. The
circulated dailies in Nepali and English, Kantipur and the statement went on to impute these media organisations
Kathmandu Post was detained in Kolkata, even as with the intent to extort. Certain of these organisations,
the publishers were negotiating with the Indian Embassy the statement said, had “informed the embassy that they
in Kathmandu. have been approached by such media houses for release
Under trade and transit arrangements, Nepal has the of advertisements and are being threatened with negative
right to transport its imports and exports through Indian publicity if those requests are not met”.
territory without impediment. Sealed containers are A storm of protest followed, with journalists’ unions,
allowed to arrive directly at a dry port in Nepali territory, media organisations and the Nepal Press Council all
unless there is evidence of misuse of the facility. Although denouncing the Indian embassy for breaching diplomatic
the authorities, both in the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu propriety and acting in gross disrespect of the freedom
and in India’s External Affairs Ministry denied any and autonomy of the Nepali media. The FNJ termed the
malafide, it was clear that the Kantipur group had drawn embassy statement as “unfit and improper” and vowed
ire for reporting that was deemed adverse to India’s to undertake a “detailed study” of the entire incident.
national interests. Also joining issue with the Indian mission were the
It is believed that the Indian Embassy may have been Television Broadcasters’ Nepal, the Nepal Media Society, the
annoyed by coverage in the newspapers regarding the Broadcasting Association of Nepal and the Association of
attacks on Nepali-speakers in the Assam-Meghalaya region Community Radio Broadcasters.
of India and a report about canal works on the Kosi river, The Indian mission responded by pointing out that
which is shared by the two countries, endangering Nepali the organisations would carry more credibility if they were
villages. Kantipur’s editorial stance against the Madhav also attentive to the unethical practices that supposedly
Kumar Nepal government, widely perceived as India- flourished within the media.
backed, as well as its coverage of New Delhi’s handling of The IFJ with the support of Indian affiliates had earlier
India’s home-grown Maoist crisis, were reportedly other criticised the Indian government’s decision to hold up the
sources of annoyance. When back-room negotiations didn’t newsprint imported by the Kantipur group to settle political
work, Kantipur proceeded to make the newsprint seizure scores. In the context of the later upsurge in friction, the IFJ
front page news, eliciting statements of concern from a with support of Indian and Nepali affiliates, urged that all
number of press freedom organisations. parties submit the entire range of issues to the adjudication
The Indian Embassy issued a belligerent note in of the Nepal Press Council. This course of action, the IFJ
response, saying that motives were being imputed to a and its affiliates held, would help build up institutional
routine customs examination and that "the distorted capacity of Nepal’s media and establish precedents that
manner in which the issue has been publicised is hardly could guide future decisions on matters of ethical practice
helpful in bringing about an early resolution to the customs and professional conduct.

fund for conflict victims. Another step forward has been a There is thus far not a single case that can be held as an
government promise to set up a mechanism in the districts example of the seriousness of the authorities to implement
to check impunity. This campaign, in the districts, has been change. In the case of J.P. Joshi, editor of the Dhangadhi
carried out collaboratively with the National Human Rights edition of the pro-Maoist Janadisha who disappeared
Commission. on October 8, 2008, and whose remains were found on
Current FNJ president Dharmendra Jha feels the lack of November 28, a commission of inquiry was set up. However,
physical safety brings with it a lack of respect for the work an application under the Right to Information law by FNJ
of journalists, and occasionally costs them their lives. “A central committee member Ramji Dahal revealed that the
culture of pursuing legal strategies must be introduced ... commission had spent NPR 3 million on its sittings, but no
cases must be filed and taken to their logical conclusion,” report has yet been made public.
he says. “We must lobby with our lawyer friends to ensure Similarly, in the case of the abduction and murder of
speedy trials and bring perpetrators to book. Unless the Birendra Sah in 2007, the absence of prosecution of the
shoddy legal system is revamped and made to work in cases suspected perpetrators was compounded by what was
of human rights abuses, impunity will not end.” widely perceived as rewards for those responsible. The CPN

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

(Maoist) admitted that Maoist cadres had killed Sah. The Despite enactment of significant legislation such
party claimed that the individualistic and anarchist nature as the Working Journalists’ Act and the Right to
of lower-rung party cadres had caused the incident. Yet, Information Act, both in 2007, implementation
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights remains tardy. While the Interim Constitution
(OHCHR) said in a statement in November 2009 that guarantees freedom of expression, extant laws have
despite its repeated calls and concerns, the Maoists had yet to be brought in line. Likewise, although lobbying
reportedly appointed Lal Bahadur Chaudhary and Kundan resulted in the fixing of minimum wages through a
Phaoujdar, two among four suspects accused of killing committee, journalists and media workers have yet to
Sah, to secretariat positions in the party’s Bara see uniform implementation. During the royal regime
district committee. and fight for democracy, owners, proprietors, editors,
journalists and other media staff came together as one,
Jana Andolan II and Current Challenges with the sole aim of restoring democracy. After the
The Jana Andolan II movement of April 2006 succeeded peace process began, contradictions began to sharpen,
in overturning royal absolutism and re-establishing with wage and labour issues revealing the schisms
Parliament. The popular ideals of peace, democracy, between managements and workers. Job security,
federalism, inclusiveness and ethnic representation were service benefits, insurance and other issues continue to
also reflected in all movements for change. The FNJ simmer, and are yet to receive the serious attention
was also swept up by the new fervour for representation, they deserve, with the general cry being that the
amending its constitution to provide assured representation constitution first needs to be written before these
for Dalits, ethnic minorities and women. This trend has, issues are dealt with. The challenge of rebuilding the
however, come in for some public questioning, as some economy after the insurgency has also hit the media,
critics feel that a professional organisation should not where low wages and insecure working conditions
succumb to promoting ethnic identities over professional are the norm.
identities. On the one hand, if there is no quota system Remarking on the need to evolve new strategies
for print, radio or online journalists, divisions and quotas in the post-jana andolan II period, FNJ vice-president
along ethnic lines may not be desirable. On the other Govind Acharya says, “We are strong on street
hand, votaries of the proportional representation system protests. With a day’s notice, we can gather
feel that the FNJ should mirror society in terms of ethnic thousands of journalists on the streets, which has
composition, also accommodating vulnerable and the effect of pressurising the government in power.
voiceless communities. However, the situation very soon goes back to square
Nepal’s Constituent Assembly elections in April 2008 one, pointing to the need for strategies for long-term
returned the former rebels as the single largest party in changes.”
the assembly, giving them a chance to lead the coalition Shiva Gaunle concurs: “The evolution of journalists’
government. Although Nepal was declared a republic amid bodies such as the FNJ must be on the lines of a
much hope, contentious issues such as ethnic federalism, professional body, with members adhering to the best
integration of former combatants and civilian supremacy values of journalism.”
over the armed forces caused instability, with the CPN An issue that has not received adequate attention
(Maoist) party quitting the Government in May 2009. in the clamour following the peace process is the
The current coalition government led by the transformation of state-owned media into public service
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist, media. Print media such as the Gorkhapatra and Rising
or UML) is fraught with contradictions and internal Nepal, electronic media such as Radio Nepal and Nepal
dissension. Even as the business of drafting a new TV, as well the news agency Rashtriya Samachar Samiti
constitution is underway, demands of ethnic federal units (National News Agency), are pro-democracy and more
continue to rock the polity. Amid economic crisis, basic liberal now. But that is more an outcome of the present
democratic freedoms are threatened by acute shortages, political climate, rather than institutional checks
growing lawlessness and unrest in the terai. In the current and balances.
phase of political transition, the media continues to be torn The criminalisation of politics and the politicisation
between different political forces. Particular vulnerabilities of crime are growing, posing a serious challenge to
include gender and ethnic identification. Journalists press freedom. The increasing influence of commercial
working in more remote districts and the terai, where the interests and competition over advertisement revenue, a
movement of the madheshis, or people of plains, has caused phenomenon that has emerged after the peace process,
unrest, face their own risks. With professional distance has an adverse impact on press freedom. An insidious
difficult to achieve in the present context, the media’s role form of self-censorship is creeping into the previously
in contributing to the discourse on state-building and the fearless journalist community. Yet, the infectious
establishment of peace has been patchy, as has been its optimism and democratic fervour will in all likelihood
voice in pressing for accountability and an end to sustain the media community in Nepal in the coming
impunity. year, until the Constitution is written.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

International press freedom missions to Pakistan have in recent times sought to establish the foundation for solidarity actions between local and global unions (photo courtesy: PFUJ)

PAKISTAN
Journalism Under Stress

A
s a country that has spent more than half its life restrictions. Criticism of the role of the United States in
under military dictators, Pakistan exemplifies the Pakistan was also an area of discomfort for the Government,
dangers that journalists face when a strong press especially in the military operations after September
exists while other democratic institutions are weak. This is 2001, which intensified from mid-2007. However, after
all the more so given that the media, or more particularly General Pervez Musharraf stepped down and a democratic
the community of journalists, has been at the forefront of government was put in place in early 2008, the media scene
the struggle for democracy and accountability since the has changed. The army is less of a player in the day to day
nation’s birth. Journalists in Pakistan wryly remark that affairs of the state and the U.S. less of a holy cow, its actions
the media and the military are the only institutions in coming under severe criticism in the media. While public
the country that have never been pushed back, though perceptions about the U.S. role in the world had improved
journalists are much more vulnerable in the absence of other in almost all 28 countries surveyed in a BBC opinion poll
checks and balances on dictatorial regimes. in April 2010, only in Turkey and Pakistan had the
“Almost the whole of Pakistan is a conflict zone,” says perception declined.
Mazhar Abbas, veteran journalist and former secretary Threats to journalists now emanate more from militant
general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). groups than from the Government or military. “The Taliban
Media houses are not doing enough to ensure the security of are shadows, not persons,” says the Lahore bureau chief of
their staff, he says. “Security of service is completely absent, Samaa TV, Habib Akram. “Emails are sent from fake addresses
insurance cover and safety training are not provided, and and phone calls made from unknown numbers. Journalists
essential safety equipment such as flak jackets and helmets do not really take these threats seriously, when the whole
are simply not available, even to journalists working in society is under multi-faceted threats.”
declared conflict areas like the Federally Administered Tribal While there is no set trend of embedded journalism
Areas (FATA), Balochistan and the North-West Frontier in Pakistan’s war zones, there is a practice of media teams
Province”, he points out. being taken into areas newly taken over by the army, for
Under martial law, criticism or even writing about example the Swat Valley. But given the lack of access, it
the role of the military was taboo and subject to severe is almost impossible to cover all sides of the story. Senior

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can continue to conduct their work to

inform the public.
From February 2008 to May 2010,
besides those media workers who were
killed in crossfire or in the line of duty, as
many as nine journalists were murdered
in targeted killings according to the
PFUJ: Ghulam Rasool Birhamani, Daily
Sindhu, in Wahi Pandhi, Sindh Province,
May 2010; Ashiq Ali Mangi, Mehran TV,
in Khairpur, February 2010; Janullah
Hashimzada, an Afghan freelancer based
in Peshawar, in Jamrud, Khyber Agency,
August 2009; Musa Khan Khel, Geo TV
and The News, in Swat,  February 2009;
Aamar Wakil, Awami Inqilab, Kohat,
January 2009; Abdul Razzak Johra,
Royal TV, in Punjab, November 2008;
Mohammed Ibrahim, Express TV and
Women journalists have steadily increased their presence within the unions in Pakistan, but that has been an outcome of Daily Express, in Khar, Bajaur Tribal area,
serious struggle (photo courtesy: PFUJ)
May 2008; Khadim Hussain Sheikh,
journalist Fahd Hussain notices a distinct shift in the media’s Khabrein, Balochistan, April 2008; and Chishti Mujahid,
attempts to strike a balance. “Until a year ago, there was Akbar-e-Jehan, in Quetta, Balochistan, February 2008.
ambiguity in the media, which was divided between anti- Brutal attacks on journalists have been matched by
Taliban and those sympathetic to the Taliban,” he says. attacks on their family members, including the November
“But after March-April of 2009, following the major military 2006 torture and murder of 16-year-old Taimur Khan,
operation in Swat, there has been a sea-change in the media brother of Dilawar Khan Wazir, the BBC correspondent in
response. Suddenly, when the Taliban came closer to home, South Waziristan. In December 2005, Hayatullah Khan, a
and entered Buner, just 60km from Islamabad, it jolted the North Waziristan correspondent for the Urdu daily Ausaf and
media. Likewise, the video of the woman being flogged in the Nation and a photographer for the European Press Photo
public did a lot to change people’s perceptions of the ‘holy Agency, was kidnapped after reporting on an explosion that
warriors’.” killed senior Al Qaeda member Maza Rabia. Hayatullah was
When people came pouring out of Swat into relief camps found murdered in June 2006. His younger brother and wife
in 2009, it provided, for the first time, opportunities for were also subsequently murdered.
direct interaction with residents of the area. Many journalists According to Khattak, from 2002 to May 2010, 32
from the Swat Valley were also displaced and struggling journalists have been killed in the line of duty. No proper
to maintain livelihoods. For the first time, mainstream investigations have been conducted. Only the Hayatullah
media was forced to pay attention to the travails of the murder was the subject of a judicial inquiry, ordered under
ordinary citizens of Swat. This first-hand experience changed pressure from the PFUJ. While the report has not been made
perceptions in the media about militancy. public formally, an unofficially publicised recommendation
The Peshawar bureau chief of the Daily Times and of the inquiry was that if a proper investigation was
representative of Reporters Without Borders, Iqbal Khattak, conducted in the tribal areas, there would be sufficient
says that after September 11, 2001, local television was evidence to locate the killer. However, the Peshawar High
not equipped to handle the world’s attention as it turned Court has no jurisdiction in the tribal areas. Likewise, in the
towards Pakistan and its tribal areas. “Journalists rushed in case of Musa Khan Khel’s murder, no sitting has taken place
without adequate training,” he says. “Many journalists paid of the inquiry committee. Only in the case of American
with their lives, and continue to die in the line of duty.” Daniel Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street
Technological advances, such as using zoom lenses to cover Journal, abducted and killed in February 2002, has there been
events from a safe distance, as well as simple safety training a speedy investigation and prosecution, with Ahmed Omar
conducted in the most vulnerable places, would save many Saeed Sheikh convicted in July 2002. President Musharraf
precious lives, Khattak says. Journalists are most at risk reportedly personally oversaw that investigation, which was
in the tribal areas. Here they face not only the impact of fast-tracked under US pressure.
militancy and warlords, but also insecurity in terms of wages The immense pressure on families of targeted journalists
and working conditions. In times of crisis, such as during to silence them or prevent them from pursuing cases is one
the 2009 military operation in Swat, the Khyber Union of reason the PFUJ insists on provision of protection to families
Journalists, an affiliate of the PFUJ, actively reaches out to of murdered journalists, as well as compensation. The failure
beleaguered journalists, providing them support so that they of authorities to bring culprits to justice is a symptom of

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Flogging the media the detainees.

R ight from regime of the first military ruler Ayub Khan

(1959-68), and especially in the Zia era, journalists took
the first blows. Quite literally. In 1977, General Zia in an
Iqbal Jaffri, at the
time a 22-year-old
reporter at the Daily
attempt to clamp down on the media shut down a host of Sun in Karachi,
broadly progressive newspapers critical of the martial law was one of those
regime, beginning with the Urdu dailies Musawaat and subjected to lashes.
Hurmat. The Daily Times and weekly Al Fatah and Meyar Now with the daily
were also shut down. Hundreds were rendered jobless. The Nawa-e-Waqt, a
journalist community, organised by the PFUJ and APNEC, grizzled Jaffri (see
mounted a spirited resistance. Hunger-strikes, rallies, sit-ins photo) says, “When
and courting arrest were a regular feature. It was during the movement began, (photo courtesy: Laxmi Murthy)
this movement that four journalists were sentenced to they thought white-collared protesters like us would be
21 lashes – an unprecedented form of punishment for dissuaded by arrests and the squalid conditions of the
political detainees. While the sentence was not carried out jails. But when that did not happen, lashes were used to
on Masoodullah Khan due to his disability, the other three send a stern message to those who continued to resist.
faced the flogging with courage. Khawar Naeem Hashmi But it had the opposite effect: the movement picked
was one of the three who were flogged. Nazir Zaidi, from up steam.” After intense pressure by the PFUJ, many of
the Daily News, would not be cowed down by the sentence the newspapers were re-started. It was the courage and
of flogging. As each lash rained down on his skinny body, outspokenness embodied by the media fraternity that
he would shout defiant anti-Zia slogans. It was during the helped coalesce and embolden the political and civil
Zia era that public hangings were conducted outside the movement against the dictatorial regime. The leadership
jail – a practice never followed before or since. Likewise, of the media community of movements in defence of
the lashes were administered to the detained journalists by democracy has since continued, as has been evident
other prisoners, to break any potential alliances amongst during the military regime of General Musharraf.

the absence of rule of law and good governance. Unless the Act’s draconian provisions: “It confers on the executive,
mechanisms to enhance accountability in all institutions are power to detain without trial or otherwise victimise any
improved, there is little likelihood that those who attempt to person on a vague charge of prejudicing the external affairs
silence journalists will pay for their crimes. This, then, will of Pakistan, an undefined offence which even an alien
remain a rallying cry for journalists’ bodies, a challenge to government did not penalise under their most arbitrary
press for accountability during times of democracy, where laws … The special provisions in the Act to control the
the “enemy” is not so clearly identifiable as during times of national press … gives the Government power to stifle free
martial law. expression of opinion on external affairs and suppress the
dissemination of correct information by forcing newspapers
Union’s Historic Struggle for Journalists’ Rights to disclose the source of their information on pain of being
The press was a vibrant contributor to anti-colonial thrown into jail. The PFUJ is of the considered view that in
movements in the subcontinent, and continued to play a country where the executive is armed with such arbitrary
a vital role in the independent nations of India and powers there can be no free press and without a free press
Pakistan that emerged from the demise of the British raj. there can be no true democracy. This meeting therefore
Dawn, or Manshoor, which was set up by Mohammed Ali demands the repeal of this reprehensible law.”
Jinnah, Nawa-i-Waqt started by Hamid Nizami, and the The first major challenge to the PFUJ and all civil society
publications of the Progressive Papers Limited (PPL) under organisations standing by democratic values came when
the chairmanship of Mian Iftikharuddin, while strongly Pakistan was barely into its second decade, with the army
nationalist with a robust anti-colonial stance, upheld the commander, General Ayub Khan, declaring martial law on
highest standards of journalism. The press played an active October 8, 1958. The National Assembly was dissolved, the
and vigilant role in the affairs of the nation, particularly Constitution abrogated, political parties banned and press
since other political and democratic institutions were as criticism prohibited. A week into this “bloodless revolution”,
yet weak. In the absence of a strong political opposition, or the editor of the weekly Lailo Nahar, Syed Sibte Hasan, Imroze
institutionalised mechanisms of accountability, from early editor Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, and poet and chief editor
on governments in the newly-created nation could be high- of the Pakistan Times, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, (all published by
handed and arbitrary in their exercise of power. the PPL) were detained under the Security Act. They were
The PFUJ was the first organisation to condemn the released about five months later after an intervention by
repressive Security Act adopted by the Constituent Assembly the judiciary. But an “advisory” system was instituted to
of Pakistan. A PFUJ resolution in October 1953 highlighted control and censor the free press. Ayub Khan went a step

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

1966, the Government closed the weekly

Purbani in Dacca, East Pakistan (now
Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh) and weekly
Chaatan, Lahore. Journalists were detained
without trial, and the allotment of official
advertisements to some newspapers was
withdrawn: Nawa-i-Waqt, Lahore, Ibrat,
Hyderabad and Pakistan Observer, Azad
and Sangbad published from Dacca. The
PFUJ’s Federal Executive Council (FEC)
met in Karachi from December 15 to 17,
1968, and observed: “The FEC believes
that this constituted the greatest peril
the national press has ever faced and,
therefore, affirms that restoration of press
freedom has become ever more imperative
than before.”
What followed was a period of great
upheaval in East Pakistan, ultimately
Journalists in Peshawar mobilise to protest the murder of Musa Khan Khel, February 2009 leading to the Liberation War and the
(photo courtesy: Khuram Pervez)
birth of Bangladesh in 1971. Yet, the
further and proceeded to take over the PPL newspapers when government-controlled media suppressed the truth from the
they refused to support the regime. While in some cases the people of Pakistan, maintaining a myth that “everything
management was able to subdue the staff, the PFUJ moved a was under control”. It was only on December 17, 1971, that
resolution protesting the takeover. readers were suddenly told that a ceasefire agreement had
When the National Press Trust and National Publications been reached, and the country was to be partitioned. The
Ltd were set up in 1963 with the aim of further tightening defeat of the Pakistani forces and the atrocities they had
government control over the press, the PFUJ again launched perpetrated on the people of Bangladesh slowly became public
a protest, warning of the disastrous impact on independent knowledge, contributing to a growing distrust of the press.
media. Particular newspapers too had their own methods However, even after martial law was lifted, the challenges
of resistance. As Zamir Niazi, author of The Press in Chains, continued. By the 1970s, there were four major media
notes: “On September 4, 1963, Dawn published a press note representative organisations: the PFUJ set up in 1950; the
without deleting a single line. It read: ‘Press Information All Pakistan Newspaper Employees’ Confederation (APNEC)
Department of Pakistan, Rawalpindi: Phone 62276; Karachi set up in 1976; the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS),
2674; Dacca: 3050; Handout E.No.1221-K’. Then it carried the organisation of newspaper owners set up in 1953; and
the headline which was given at the top of the sheet. The the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), founded
item ended with the name of the steno-typist, time and in 1957. “The APNS and CPNE generally compromised with
date. It was a simple though unique and powerful form the military regime, and it was left to the PFUJ to carry on
of protest which made a laughing stock of the new law. the struggle,” says media analyst Professor Tauseef Ahmed,
Dawn was just following the new Ordinance in its totality. who has documented the history of media associations in
One of the Ordinance’s sections said that “press notes and Pakistan.
handouts were to be printed and published verbatim and in Under the presidency of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, sworn in
full without deletion or correction of any kind”. Following following the separation of East Pakistan in December 1971,
a spirited protest by the PFUJ, the 10-day old Press and journalists continued to struggle against attempts to muzzle
Publications Ordinance 1963 was suspended and a new law, the media. Bhutto and his party failed to honour their
marginally less restrictive, was put in place. The struggle was commitments to repeal draconian laws, particularly the Press
by no means over. and Publication Ordinance, dismantling of the National
Minhaj Barna, a veteran journalist who has chronicled Press Trust, and making the electronic media independent
the trade union movement in Pakistan, notes that 1968 of government control. Veteran journalist and then PFUJ
was a significant year in the PFUJ’s struggle for press president Minhaj Barna recalls: “Only two months after
freedom. “The entire period of 1968 and beginning of 1969 coming to power, the Government, one of whose main
(ultimately ending in a new martial law regime headed slogans was ‘democracy is our polity’, banned two weeklies
by General Yahya Khan) was marked by a great upsurge and one monthly of Lahore, namely the Punjab Punch, Urdu
of the people against the autocratic rule of General Ayub. Digest and Zindagi, under a martial law order. (Bhutto at
Desperate and frustrated, the Ayub regime resorted to more that time was both the President and the Chief Martial Law
and more repressive measures. The noose around the press Administrator.) Under the orders, their editors were not only
was further tightened.” After banning the daily Ittefaq in jailed but also barred from editing any paper for 10 years.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Press Clubs: Platform for

the Media Community

P akistan’s press clubs have played a remarkable role

from the front in the history of journalism in the
country, often complementing the militant role of unions.
When most journalist unions, even today, are strapped
for resources, the press clubs have provided space and a
conducive atmosphere for unions and associations to meet,
discuss and mobilise their members. The Karachi Press
Club, established in 1958, was the first such institution
in the country. While the purpose was to provide a social
and cultural space, enhance professional competence, and
promote welfare activities, there is no doubt that the KPC
in particular, and press clubs in general have over time,
evolved into political spaces. They played a particularly Karachi Press Club has in its heritage structure, been a vibrant node of media freedom
vital role during martial law, when meetings in public activism (photo courtesy: Laxmi Murthy)
places were banned, and the clubs were venues for political immediately covering the various pleas for justice. Indeed,
meetings. Indeed, press clubs across the country, but most the attack on the Peshawar Press Club in December 2009,
notably the ones in Karachi and Lahore also provided a the first-ever suicide attack on the media, despite earlier
relatively non-controversial front for political mobilisation threats, was again a reminder of the power of these
of the media during times of severe repression. It was from institutions in the public imagination.
the historic Karachi Press Club that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto In some instances, press clubs have been able to extend
launched a pro-democracy movement in 1967. Indeed, resources to their members that unions have not been able
being active in the press club was a veritable stepping stone to do. The Peshawar Press Club, for example, launched
to activism in the union. A room was provided for the local a highly successful scheme of financing the purchase of
union, and now the Karachi Union of Journalists has even motorcycles. It provided a part of the down-payment,
built an office on the premises of the press club. and also stood guarantee for members who wished to
Moreover, with a relatively broad-based membership purchase motorcycles. Virtually the entire membership
that includes poets, writers, literary figures, press attaches of the club availed of this facility – a significant scheme
and members of the media industry in general, press clubs in Pakistan, where journalists, police and lawyers are
provided a lively mix of persons connected with the media. generally ineligible for bank finances. Another successful
The press clubs also provided an opportunity for the media scheme was loans for the purchase of laptops. Press
to forge links with progressive politicians and civil society Clubs have also supported the travel of members to other
organisations active in the movement for democracy. So cities for union meetings and seminars. These practical
identified is the KPC with democratic movements, that initiatives helped to deepen the involvement of individual
a host of demonstrations, protest rallies and sit-ins are journalists, and also strengthen solidarity within the
staged just outside the heritage building, with journalists media community.

They were not given a chance to be tried in an open court imprisonment, and some were even flogged. The resistance
under the normal laws of the land. The PFUJ condemned offered by the PFUJ and other bodies such as APNEC was as
the government action and urged the lifting of the ban on memorable during this period as the repression. This struggle
the journals and the release of their editors. The editors were began at the end of November 1977 in Karachi, barely five
released and the ban was declared void.” As Rai Husnain months after Zia’s takeover. The PFUJ’s struggle was triggered
Tahir, president of the Punjab Union of Journalists, relates: by the Government’s ban on publication of the daily
“In an innovative display of resistance, the Zindagi was Musawaat published from Karachi. When lobbying with
brought out under a different name every week, in order to the martial law authorities to lift the ban did not succeed,
circumvent the ban.” the PFUJ and APNEC launched a hunger strike in Karachi
In addition to direct means of clamping down on the from December 1, 1977, which drew the participation of
dissenting press, the Bhutto era witnessed harassment journalists and press workers from all over Pakistan. The
through tight control of newsprint and advertisements, both ban was lifted as a result. Further bans resulted in stronger
essential for the survival of the press. campaigns the following year. Such was the respect and
The return to martial law under Zia ul-Haq in 1977 saw following that the PFUJ commanded that Zia, following his
also a return to crude methods of controlling the press failure to crush the union, set up a parallel and loyal union
and clamping down on democratic dissent. Editors and (the “Rashid Siddiqi group”) in an attempt to co-opt and
senior journalists were arrested and sentenced to rigorous divide the journalist community.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

From 1989 to October 12, 1999, Pakistan was under that swept through the country beginning July 2010: a
the rule of civilian governments headed by Benazir Bhutto crumbling economy, spiralling prices for essential goods,
and Nawaz Sharif, for two terms each. None of the four rising unemployment, militancy in the tribal areas, and
civilian governments in this period managed to serve a Islamic extremism in the borders.
full term. Although this phase was not as worrisome for As such, the paradox of a larger media canvas with fewer
the press as the years of the three military governments, it colours is a reflection of the ideological battle in Pakistan
was not free from executive excesses and highhandedness. between conservatives led by Islamist parties and the agenda
In the words of Minhaj Barna, “during its second tenure of “enlightened moderation” pushed first by Musharraf and
the PPP Government banned the publication of several supported by sections of civil society. The PFUJ had a more
dailies of Karachi (Awam, Qaumi Akhabar, Public, Aghaz and radical agenda, refusing to allow the debate to be framed in
Evening Special) under the Maintenance of Public Order these narrow terms.
Ordinance (MPO). Though the ban was lifted within days
it proved two points. One, that despite their professions of Grassroots Movement, Diverse Protests
commitment to democracy and press freedom, even the The PFUJ adopted its Constitution at the Pakistan Working
civilian governments in Pakistan have been intolerant of Journalists’ Convention in Karachi in April 1950. This
criticism and the possible exposure of their mis-governance. brought into existence a powerful voice for democracy
Two, that in addition to the hated Press and Publication in the country, which has remained united despite all
Ordinance, there are several other undemocratic laws on adversities. The PFUJ has since been at the forefront of the
the statute book such as the MPO which can be used by the struggle for journalists’ rights. In the absence of institutional
governments against newspapers and journalists in pursuit mechanisms for democratic values to be operationalised
of their arbitrary actions. Similarly, the manner in which the at the grassroots, the federal union functions as an
management of the Jang Group of newspapers was harassed outreach mechanism. The PFUJ and its affiliate district,
from August 1998 onward and the editor of the Friday city and provincial unions have proved to be a platform
Times, Najam Sethi, was arrested on May 8, 1999, detained for articulating grievances of the journalists’ community.
incommunicado and tortured by the Government of Nawaz During a crisis, unions are at their best. They perform well
Sharif was reminiscent of methods used by fascist regimes. in adversity. When there is an overarching dictatorship,
The PFUJ and APNEC not only condemned these vindictive unions can be very effective, as Musharraf discovered,
actions strongly but held countrywide protest rallies. The because they had a mandate as elected representatives and
Government was ultimately forced to reverse its actions.”1 therefore carried weight. Under adverse conditions, outreach
When Musharraf unseated Prime Minister Sharif in a to regional networks and international networks is very
military coup in 1999, there was hardly any protest, since effective.
Sharif, from 1997, had proved corrupt, heavy-handed “From mohalla committees in the neighbourhoods, the
and intolerant of the independence of every institution, tehsil level to the districts, divisions and provincial level,
including the judiciary, bureaucracy, parliament and the the organisation has a visible presence in a country that
press. Under Musharraf, the private media, especially FM is not famous for building institutions,” says Syed Talat
radio and private television channels, grew in volume, Hussain, executive director of Aaj TV, one of Pakistan’s
increasing the sources of independent information. Indeed, leading news and current affairs channels. The efficacy
Musharraf was fairly tolerant of a free media to begin of the PFUJ’s organising strategy was apparent during the
with, but began conducting himself as a dictator after his Musharraf era. Lawyers and journalists pouring out on to
problems started multiplying, notably after the “war on the streets, mobilised through local bar councils, press clubs
terror” was launched in 2001. and journalists’ unions, created the public mood in which
Alongside growing attacks and intimidation, media business as usual ceased to be an option for the dictatorship.
freedoms began to shrink, through draconian laws as well Journalists’ bodies have succeeded in bringing together a
as extra-legal censorship. The declaration of a national diverse lot, and linking marginalised journalists with those
state of emergency in November 2007 saw a clampdown in the mainstream. In Toba Tek Singh, Sukkur and Quetta,
on independent media, with only the state-owned PTV local unions could be trusted to keep the pot boiling when
permitted to broadcast news without restraints. The the Karachi or Lahore press clubs were shut down. It is for
subsequent battle for democracy led by lawyers and this reason that the death of a journalist in the remotest
journalists succeeded in restoring basic political freedoms. areas of Kohat or Swat no longer goes unnoticed. It is with
These gains were consolidated through the ballot in 2008, the articulation of a collective identity that the worth of
when a Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government under individual journalists has come to be recognised.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani was swept into power The methods of resistance have been varied. PFUJ
by the sympathy wave generated after the assassination president Pervaiz Shaukat recalls the spontaneous protests
of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. But there are serious following “Black Saturday”, when Musharraf declared the
challenges, now greatly worsened by the cataclysmic floods state of emergency on November 3, 2007. “Influential
talk shows and news programs were shut down, but with
1 http://pfuj.pk/history-of-pfuj/ , accessed on September 18, 2010. our encouragement, Talat Hussain, Fahd Hussain and

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

others conducted their shows on the street, in front of the there is a tendency for the glamour and instant recognition
rally,” he says. “These shows, pulsing with the voice of that TV offers, to attract young professionals, with less
resistance, were beamed live into people’s homes, whipping political orientation. There are very few women bureau
up the democratic spirit.” From protest rallies, sit-ins and chiefs or reporters, while most anchors, talk-show hosts and
demonstrations on the streets, wearing black arm-bands or producers are women. But when it comes to the union, they
gags, the PFUJ has also employed tactics like walking out are not considered “regular” journalists, and hence not given
of the National Assembly and boycotting parliamentary membership. Thus the visible boom in women in the media
proceedings. So seriously are these measures taken that is not reflected in union membership.
the Speaker, on occasion, has directed Opposition leaders Concurring that unions in Pakistan have not kept pace
to talk to the union leaders to reach a compromise. “Even with the changing media environment, Syed Talat Hussain,
though we accept government funds for some activities, director of news at Aaj TV, says that unions are still in
we registered our opposition to martial law by not inviting agitational mode and have not undertaken the thorough
political leaders compliant with the Zia ul-Haq and the examination of their own policies required by the new
circumstances. Even when it comes to land allocations
Musharraf regime to ‘oath-taking’ events in the press club,
whereby the Government provides support for facilities for
which is otherwise a convention,” says Sarmad Basheer,
journalists, television journalists are left out. He added that
president of the Lahore Press Club, one of the most visible
women journalists in general avoid controversial bodies.
and vocal forums of the media community.
Those who focus on their career do not see a need to join
That press freedom and security of service go hand unions as they are not seen as integral to professional
in hand has been one of the rallying cries of the PFUJ growth. Moreover, unions, still male-dominated, require
since its inception. Lobbying for Wage Awards and their doing “unpleasant” activities such as protests, engaging
implementation has gone alongside protests against with recalcitrant employers and street demonstrations, and
censorship and co-option of the media. Under pressure women, who are burdened with domestic chores as well,
from the PFUJ, the Government withheld advertisements are hesitant to spend time in these activities. The reluctance
worth about PKR 980 million (about USD 11 million) from is solidified when it is perceived that unions do not take
newspapers that were not implementing the Wage Board up concerns of special relevance to women, be it sexual
award and paying rightful wages. This is an option that harassment in the workplace, or the special facilities they
Indian counterparts have also urged on occasion, though may require, such as transportation home after late night
circumstances in India are a little different and a similar shifts and separate wash-rooms.
measure may not have the required efficacy. The absence of gender equity in the unions’ executive
bodies has been a matter of concern to some office bearers.
Women in the Unions During his tenure, Mazhar Abbas tried, unsuccessfully, to
The 1970s and 1980s, Pakistan witnessed a highly politicised bring about an amendment to the PFUJ Constitution that
journalists’ movement, with a few women playing would ensure at least four or five women members of the
prominent roles. For example, during the 1978 movement Executive. Discussions about the efficacy of quotas and
against General Zia’s regime, Lala Rukh was jailed with her affirmative action to increase the participation of women
one-year-old son. Others such as Shin Farukh, Mehnaaz have been inconclusive, with those opposing quotas so far
Rehman and Farida Hafiz stand out as dynamic women holding sway.
journalist activists. A few went on to take up leadership
roles in journalists’ bodies and media houses. Among these Electronic Media: Frontline 24 x 7
were Fauzia Shahid, who became secretary general of the The general secretary of the Rawalpindi Islamabad
PFUJ, Umaira Athar, who went on to be vice-president of the Union of Journalists (RIUJ), Jamil Mirza, says the
Karachi Press Club, and editor of The Herald, Razia Bhatti. immediacy of the electronic media means the threats they
The election of Aneela Shaheen, of Dunya TV, as general face could manifest themselves instantaneously.
secretary of the Khyber Union of Journalists in 2010 has “The cameramen are always at the frontline, bearing the
been a morale booster for women, particularly as the Khyber brunt,” he says. “Rehman Malik, Minister of Interior, has
union operates in one of the most dangerous places for six times committed to providing bullet-proof jackets for
journalists. These individuals are however exceptions. The journalists, but nothing has come of it.”
norm is a very low representation of women in the unions, After September 11, 2001, the Pakistan-Afghanistan
both as members and as office bearers. region has been at the forefront of global attention.
According to Mazhar Abbas, the presence of women Consequently, news production has become a high-profile
journalists in the union has steadily increased (a survey activity, especially in the electronic media. There has
by the PFUJ in 2006 counted about 300 full-time women also been an increase in those reporting for international
journalists across Pakistan). Previously, according to Abbas, publications. For the English media, it has meant some
most women in the union came from political backgrounds, improvement in salaries and working conditions, but
with left-wing views. Today, with television being the avenue for those in the Urdu media, especially stringers and
for increased numbers of women entering journalism, correspondents in the remote areas, the international

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

focus has had no immediate benefits. Instead, attempts advocated for fair wages and security of service for
to control the electronic media reached new heights journalists and all media workers.
under Musharraf. On October 8, 2001, the Seventh Wage Board laid down
On May 16, 2005, the National Assembly passed legally-binding wage scales and workplace conditions for
the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority journalists, which were to be applied from October 2000.
Amendment Bill (2004). The authority created under the Almost nine years later, these provisions are yet to be
law, PEMRA, can under Clause 27 impose a ban on channels implemented. With the Eighth Wage Board award now
in the name of national interest, security, the defence of overdue, 85 per cent of newspapers in Pakistan are yet to
the ideology of Pakistan and prevention of vulgarity. These implement the Seventh Wage Board. Most journalists and
notions are entirely subjective. PEMRA has made violation media employees are now working on illegal contracts or
of the law a cognisable and compoundable offence, with without official notices of appointment. Many are paid daily
sentences of up to three years and heavy fines of up to wages. The stalemate at the policy, legal and implementation
PKR 10 million (about USD 168,000). PEMRA, which was level points to the need to seriously review strategies and
further amended in 2007, was used to indiscriminately perhaps adopt a different approach. With the private
ban television channels and confiscate equipment. Media media sector experiencing a boom under Musharraf, it is
bodies raised their voices against this draconian legislation now witnessing the impact of a cut-back. Several hundred
throughout the Musharraf regime. Following the restoration journalists are known to have lost their jobs.
of democracy in 2008, the law was drastically toned To resist any forms of censorship, either from the state
down, though the union has maintained its stance that or from militant groups, media owners need the support of
the authority created under it should be disbanded, and working journalists. During protests, working journalists
a self-regulatory body comprising all media stakeholders come out on to the street, fully aware that the closing down
instituted in its place. As part of this move, the PFUJ of newspapers or dumbing down of news puts their jobs at
drafted a 26-point Code of Conduct in August 2008, in peril. At times of crisis, most recently during the struggle
an attempt to codify the basic tenets of journalism in the under Musharraf, media owners reached out to journalists
public interest. The draft is under discussion and debate. and put up a joint front. But once the protests are over, the
Likewise, a media complaints commission has been under solidarity soon falls apart, and contradictions come to the
discussion for several years, as a possible mechanism for fore. “A serious question raised by the PFUJ general body is:
self-regulation. ‘What have we gained from campaigns for press freedom?
Labour laws are not applied in the electronic media sector. Press freedom is for owners, not working journalists’ they
Even if salaries are reasonable, payments are made only every say,” Mazhar Abbas remarks. It is a difficult situation for the
two or three months. Most channels have launched 24 x union to convince its general body to take a stand against
7 news channels without feasibility assessments, resulting repression by the Government, when the owners recognise
in many folding very quickly. According to Mazhar Abbas, the PFUJ only when it comes to their own narrow interests.
about 400 to 500 journalists have lost their jobs over the past So apparent is this dichotomy, that newspapers do not give
two to three years. With no laws governing employment coverage to PFUJ rallies and actions on wage and working
in the electronic media, there is no recourse to the courts. conditions.
While there are isolated cases of individual owners yielding With the trend of regular employment slowly vanishing
to union demands, workers generally have little bargaining in all sectors, including journalism, the contract system is
power in relation to proprietors. badly affecting both job security and union growth, as those
Indeed, taking on board the rapidly changing media on short-term contracts hesitate to join unions. Indeed,
landscape is crucial for the unions. The work culture journalists today sense that their principal conflict is not
has been transformed, as has ownership and workplace with the Government but with media houses when it comes
equations. Privatisation and the opening up of the air to safeguarding the autonomy of their craft. Even when
waves, both for the electronic media and the internet, particular governments such the current one under Gilani
have brought new challenges. For the unions, treading the are responsive to demands made by journalists’ unions,
delicate balance between advocating for full press freedom owners are not willing to budge. Whether it is providing
and respecting people’s religious beliefs and customs has insurance cover or sitting on joint ethics committees, owners
been difficult and even controversial, such as the support are unprepared to deal with working journalists on an equal
it rendered to the ban on the social networking site footing.
Facebook in April 2010 following allegedly derogatory Thus, while Pakistan has witnessed visible solidarity and
references to Islam. alliances of media workers, journalists’ bodies, newspaper
owners and editors, this solidarity has been transitory, and
Press Freedom and Job Security only while fighting censorship or dictatorial regimes. Lessons
Journalists in Pakistan are among the lowest paid learned from joint issue-based campaigns for freedom of
professionals in the country. Barring a few, mainly in the information therefore might perhaps provide some insights
electronic media, the rest work for a pittance while risking into how to strengthen links between campaigns for press
life and limb. The PFUJ and APNEC have consistently freedom and those for journalists’ working conditions.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

SRI LANKA
Post War Challenges and a
Polarised Media

S
ri Lanka’s 26-year-old civil war ended
in May 2009, with government forces
formally declaring final victory over
the secessionist insurgency of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the days that
followed, expectations ran high about the range
of political reforms that could be introduced,
to promote long deferred processes of
reconciliation, peace building and transparency
in governance. The media, which had been
repressed, abused and attacked throughout this
period, were hopeful that the new era of peace
would usher in greater freedom of expression
and increased space for dissent.
However, that optimism did not survive Poddala Jayantha, victim of a life threatening assault in 2009, leads a demonstration against the murder of
journalist Sampa Lakmal de Silva in Colombo, July 2006 (photo courtesy: Buddhika Weerasingha)
the bitterly divisive presidential election
campaign in January 2010 and the general elections to Sri services, police, human rights, public accountability and
Lanka’s parliament that followed in April. The ensuing the judicial services. The President will also have virtually
period has rendered several more body blows to those early untrammelled power to appoint the top law officials and
expectations, with renewed attacks on media personnel and the head of the national audit agency. He will also, through
organisations, and fresh efforts to assert government control. his power to appoint the secretary-general to parliament,
Most notable of these were the attempts to revive the Press have the implicit power to dictate the conduct of the
Council and the establishment of the Media Development legislature.
Authority purportedly to help guide local media institutions The provisions are widely perceived as eroding democracy
to improve media ethics.1 and seriously undermining good governance. The manner
Plans are also being made to set up a Broadcasting in which the amendment was rushed through parliament
Authority to “monitor the activities of television and radio as an Emergency Bill is also viewed as violating the basic
stations, issue media guidelines and regulate the licensing freedoms of the people. However, particularly significant to
process in the sector”.2 The Government has already the independent media is the power vested with the three-
announced regulations for granting licences to new private member Elections Commission to issue guidelines to both
television broadcasting stations, internet service providers state and private-owned media during elections.
and telephone networks. These are a scaled-down version of The Elections Commission under the 17th amendment
the controversial regulations it sought to introduce in late had powers to issue guidelines to state media, but the 18th,
2009, which placed restrictions on news telecasts as well as in extending this power to privately owned media – in
other material disseminated over the internet. conjunction with the power of appointing the commission
Another blow to the hopes of political reforms and that the President now enjoys – could be writing the
media freedom was the parliamentary vote on September obituary for any form of dissent, indeed, any form of
8, 2010, approving the controversial 18th Amendment to opposition voice during election time. The issue becomes
the Constitution. Taken up as an Emergency Bill amid pertinent in the context of the existing culture of abuse of
widespread protest by media organisations, civil society state media by incumbent governments and the long-felt
groups, trade unions and opposition political parties, the need for reforms to convert state-controlled media to public
amendment, while removing the two-term limit on any service media.
individual holding the powerful executive presidency, also An Asia-wide conference held in Colombo on public
brings all the autonomous public institutions envisaged service media, hosted by the International Federation of
by the 17th amendment under the direct control of the Journalists (IFJ) with its Sri Lankan partners in 2003, had
President. This gives the President sweeping powers to underlined the urgent actions needed to reform state-
appoint the commissions that will oversee elections, public controlled media in line with a number of principles. These
included removing all forms of direct political control
1 See Media Development Authority: Another name for media control in Sri over public service media and creating a framework for its
Lanka? at http://www.groundviews.org/2010/07/28/media-development- administration, in line with international standards, through
authority-another-name-for-media-control-in-sri-lanka/
2 See Sri Lanka to set up Broadcasting Authority at http://blogs.rnw.nl/
ethical, accountable and financially transparent structures.
medianetwork/sri-lanka-to-set-up-launch-broadcasting-authority That was at a time when Sri Lanka was going through a

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

formally declared internal ceasefire and hopes

were high that negotiations would lead to an
enduring political solution.

Denial of Space for Critical Reportage

The developments since the end of the war
have taken place in the backdrop of a deeply
polarised political environment where there was
and continues to be an active denial of space for
exploring critical stories about the war, post-war
developments in the North and East, including
the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs),
and the reconciliation process.
In an unrelentingly hostile environment,
media professionals in all parts of the country
adopted self-censorship and other strategies
for securing themselves from bodily harm.
Those who refused to follow these rules of
self-preservation invariably came under threat.
Violence, intimidation and murder of journalists Candlelight vigil for murdered journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga, Colombo, January 2009
(photo courtesy: Robert Shaw)
were common all through the years of war and
the environment turned markedly worse in its In general, the attention devoted to the IDP issue varied
last phase. along a continuum, with the Tamil press being the most
The Tamil language media in particular was under concerned, the English press a little less and the Sinhala press
persistent pressure during this period. Offices of the least of all. Among the Tamil press, the twin newspapers
Uthayan daily published from Jaffna and its associate Uthayan and Sudar Oli, belonging to the New Uthayan group
newspaper, Sudar Oli in Colombo, were frequently targeted. and published respectively from Jaffna and Colombo, are
With the Government driving in the message that the known to have done the most diligent reporting on the
media had a clear-cut binary choice – not supporting its IDPs situation, often using sources within the camps as
war policy would be the moral equivalent of supporting correspondents, under the protection of anonymity.
terrorism – journalists were cowed into silence, opting The Sunday Times, in two remarkable reports published
either for self-censorship or for a strident endorsement of in its edition of September 6, 2009, highlighted that the IDP
the war effort. camps had become a fertile ground for human trafficking
Independent coverage of war was completely banned. and for racketeering by public servants who had few scruples
The Government allowed media personnel from just two about exploiting human misery for monetary gain. Yet the
state controlled television stations and one private journalists who were involved in the ground-breaking report
pro-war station to cover the war, as “embedded reporters”. concede that the public impact was minimal, partly because
The Government and the LTTE propaganda arms distributed the Sinhala language press remained indifferent.3 Tellingly,
news and visuals on the war regularly. Independent two special correspondents for the newspaper, based in
verification of war casualties was not possible. Vavuniya and Mannar, chose not to be credited despite
More than a year after the end of the war, independent having contributed significantly to the reporting.
media was still not given access to areas where the decisive The citizen journalism website Groundviews (www.
last battles were fought. Jaffna, the capital city of the groundviews.org) did some of the most telling early reporting
Northern Province, faced the brunt of censorship through on the conditions within the IDP camps, alerting national
the war years. To date, no foreign media person has been and international opinion to the growing conditions of
allowed to visit the city independently. squalor and distress following heavy rains in August and
then October 2009. The website’s reporting was accompanied
Silence on IDPs by a poignant commentary on the level of concern of the
The repressive environment and the culture of self- mainstream media in the situation in the camps.4
censorship have made the coverage of humanitarian issues a
major challenge. One of the casualties was fair and objective
3 The two reports, titled “Scandalous Plunder of a Battered People”
reporting on the situation of the nearly 300,000 IDPs and “The High Price of Freedom”, were investigated and written
corralled into detention camps in the North. What passed by the Sunday Times Insight Team. They are available at: http://
www.sundaytimes.lk/090906/News/nws_02.html and http://www.
off as coverage often stemmed from carefully choreographed
sundaytimes.lk/090906/News/nws_24.html
tours to the infamous Manik Farm, when journalists, mostly 4 The August report titled “The Shame of Menik Farms” is available at
from the state media, accompanied government officials and http://www.groundviews.org/2009/08/23/the-shame-of-menik-farm/
foreign dignitaries as part of the entourage. and the October report at: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/10/13/
breaking-news-flooding-and-unrest-again-at-menik-farm/.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Reporting on the IDPs issue was clearly an area of Though the election verdict was decisive, there were
silence for much of the mainstream media. Following the significant local variations in voting behaviour. Fonseka
opening of the camps in November and the return of several won decisively in most districts in the Northern and Eastern
of the displaced to their home villages, the indifference provinces, which had seen the worst of the conflict since the
of the mainstream media persisted. As the silence grew, mid-1990s. He also had a substantial edge in Colombo. The
Groundviews did another report, tracking certain of the apparent polarisation of the vote and subsequent events,
individuals who had been released from the IDP camps which indicate deepening antagonisms rather than the hoped
as they went back to their villages to begin the arduous for spirit of reconciliation, has been cause for concern. A
process of reconstructing their lives. Again deprecating the prominent media commentator recently worried that a new
mainstream media for its silence on issues of concern to spirit of contention may be creeping into the mainstream
these victims of war, the citizen journalism website reported: politics of the island-nation’s dominant Sinhala majority.6
“With many families not having their able men and From a media perspective, the voter turnout in the North
women who have been either killed during the war (or is also cause for concern. Though Fonseka won decisively
before), or been forcibly taken and detained, return for in the North, only 26 per cent of registered voters cast
these IDPs is not as pleasant as one would want to see, or their ballots in the district of Jaffna. The figure in the other
usually believe. We also witnessed many families reduced northern district of Wanni was a little better – but at 40 per
to women, very young children and old people. Without cent, well below the national average of 74.5 per cent. Since
any basic facilities (proper shelter, hospitals, transport, the supposed release of the IDPs, the numbers of registered
schools, drinking water, electricity and access to any form voters left in the Jaffna and Wanni camps on election day
of livelihood activities) and basic right to freedom of were relatively low: 15,602 and 29,940 respectively. But the
movement, one has to wonder what it means to these IDPs polling percentages here were again modest: 65.04 per cent
to come back home.”5 and 51.42 per cent.
By November 2009, the Government was claiming that The low voter participation in these districts raises
most IDPs had been released from confinement and allowed questions about how well the Sri Lankan media managed
to return home. The road from Colombo to Jaffna was also to articulate the interests and the political aspirations of the
opened for civilian traffic. Though a number of security Tamil population, who had taken the worst hit from the civil
checkpoints remained in place, the requirement of a prior war. It raises worries that their voices were not heard through
permit was withdrawn for prospective travellers between the election campaign or the polling and that their legitimate
Jaffna and Colombo. However, life in the Northern Province interests may not attract the attention that is their due.
remains far from normal. The election period also saw widespread abuse of
state media and renewed suppression of the independent
Challenges of Peace and Reconciliation media. Several journalists and other staff of the state-run
On January 26, 2010, eight months after the war with the broadcaster were removed from their posts or served notices
LTTE was declared over, Sri Lanka went for nationwide of severe disciplinary action soon after the presidential
elections to the powerful executive presidency. The result election. Their alleged offence was to insist through the
was a lopsided win for the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa, election campaign that the norms of fairness stipulated
over his principal rival, Sarath Fonseka, who had been army by the Election Commissioner be followed by state media.
commander through the final phases of the war. Until his Several websites that had been supportive of Fonseka’s
bitter falling out with the President and his immediate candidacy were blocked and remained unavailable to
circle, he had been widely credited for being a co-architect of web-users within Sri Lanka. And the editor of a weekly
military victory. newspaper, Lanka, was arrested and his office premises
A few days after the results of the election, Fonseka was sealed, before both actions were reversed under judicial
taken into custody under controversial circumstances and for orders.
unspecified offences. He has since faced two courts martial Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist with one of the news
for being involved in politics while in uniform and for websites that was strongly supportive of Fonseka’s candidacy,
corruption in weapons procurement. Fonseka has denied both went missing while on his way home from work on the
charges, but the first court martial, held in August 2010 while night of January 24. He remains untraced to this date.
court was in vacation and sans the presence of the defence Presenting the annual report of the Office of the
lawyers, found him guilty of being involved in politics while High Commissioner for Human Rights to the United
in uniform and ruled he be stripped of his ranking, his Nations Human Rights Council on March 6, 2010, High
medals and his pension. It was a bitter end to the career of a Commissioner Navaneetham Pillay described the situation
man who was the first officer to be given a four-star military in Sri Lanka in the following terms: “In Sri Lanka the
ranking after the victory against the LTTE in 2009.

6 See the well known political scientist, Dayan Jayatillake’s, comment,

5 “180 days after the end of war, the return of the IDPs: an eye-witness “Sarath Fonseka Affair: Political Cannibalism Must Cease in Sri
account”, available at: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/11/18/180- Lanka!”, February 15, 2010, available at: http://www.groundviews.
days-after-end-of-war-the-much-anticipated-return-of-idps-an- org/2010/02/15/sarath-fonseka-affair-political-cannibalism-must-cease-
eyewitness-account/#more-2026 in-sri-lanka/.

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Tissainayagam’s Conviction

O n August 31, 2009, the High Court in Colombo convicted

J.S. Tissainayagam, a print and online journalist and widely-
read columnist with the Sunday Times, on charges of terrorism
and sentenced him to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment. An
indictment against Tissainayagam, his publisher V. Jasikaran
and the latter’s companion V. Valarmathy had been filed before
the court on August 25, 2008, formally laying charges under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This followed more than five
months in detention, since the three were picked up in early
March and held without charge well beyond the time allowed
even under the “Emergency Regulations” in force in Sri Lanka.
Tissainayagam’s case was heard separately from the other two, for
reasons yet unclear.
Aside from two articles that he wrote in 2006, the prosecution
case against Tissainayagam rested on a confession that he
was purported to have voluntarily signed. However, the judge
disregarded the possibility that the confession may have been
made under duress, solely on the testimony of the two policemen
who recorded it. The defence contention that the articles were
unlikely to create disaffection or hostility between communities
was dispensed with by the court, on the grounds that the impact
the words were likely to have on an “ordinary man” had to be
taken into account. Testimony from many public figures and
legal experts to say that the articles were within the limits of free Poster designed by Free Media Movement to mark 300 days since the
detention on terrorism charges of Tissainayagam, Jasikaran and Valarmathy
speech as guaranteed by the Constitution was dismissed.
Tissainayagam was granted bail pending appeal in January 2010. Following a public assurance by Sri Lanka’s Foreign
Minister on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – that he would be granted a presidential pardon, he flew out of Sri Lanka
late in June. The terms of his release though, have not been publicised.
On October 13, 2009, at the parallel hearing of their case under the PTA, Jasikaran and Valarmathy were told that they
could be discharged, conditional upon them withdrawing a petition filed before the Supreme Court which claimed that
their fundamental rights had been grievously violated.

opportunity for peace and reconciliation continues to with pronounced Sinhala nationalist tendencies in the
be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights south – the war’s final phase was the most tragic period for
defenders and other critics of the Government. I am Sri Lanka’s journalists. In April 2005, D. Sivaram “Taraki”, a
convinced that Sri Lanka should undertake a full reckoning well-known commentator and analyst, one-time leader of
of the grave violations committed by all sides during the a Tamil political group, was abducted from a busy part of
war, and that the international community can be helpful in Colombo. His body with gunshot wounds was discovered
this regard.” the next morning. Targeted attacks on journalists and
In this context, it is interesting to note that the media institutions, particularly those aligned with the Tamil
Government, during its bid for election for the Human political cause, became a recurrent feature of the months
Rights Council in 2006, made a commitment to invite that followed.
the Special Rapporteur (SR) on Freedom of Expression to In a long history of tension between the media
investigate press freedom violations in the country. In community and the authorities, January 2009 was a
August 2009 a request was made by the office of the SR to turning point. The Government was in triumphal
visit Sri Lanka. So far, the Government has not responded to mood, having secured major battlefield gains. Space for
this request. dissent soon ceased to exist. The murder of Lasantha
Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader and one of
Hostilities Engulf Media Freedom Campaign Sri Lanka’s best-known campaigning journalists, was the
After the dark years of the late 1980s, which witnessed most heinous of the crimes against the media that month.
pitched battles in the North and East between the LTTE January 2009 also saw the fire-bombing of the Sirasa TV
and Indian troops who had arrived as peace-keepers – and a studios in Colombo and a brutal knife attack on Upali
brutal clampdown on an insurgency launched by the Janata Tennakoon, editor of a Sinhala daily generally compliant
Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), a left-wing political formation to government diktat.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Sudar Oli editor N. Vithyatharan was snatched from In the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions
a family funeral in a kidnap-style arrest on February 27, in March, June and September 2009, several governments
2009, and acknowledged to be under arrest only after five and non-government organisations continued to raise
hours. A few days after, the Defence Secretary met with concerns about the deteriorating media freedom situation
an Australian news crew and warned the reporter that to in Sri Lanka. The European Union (EU) laid renewed
ask about Vithyatharan was to be seen as an accomplice emphasis on media freedom and the restoration of
in terrorism. “You will have blood on your hands” if you accountability for human rights abuses as a pre-condition
ask about Vithyatharan, as he is known to be a “terrorist”, for the renewal of trade concessions granted Sri Lanka
he said. The recording of the meeting was telecast over the under the EU’s enhanced generalised system of preferences
CBC News channel on March 11. The Government, claimed (GSP+) facility.
the Defence Secretary, had evidence that the man under By the end of 2009, thanks to the political space created
arrest had played a role in an aerial attack on Colombo on by the presidential election campaign, local organisations
February 20. Vithyatharan was discharged unconditionally concerned with media freedom gathered some strength
after two months. The police agencies that investigated the and submitted an agenda for reform to all presidential
charges against him admitted in court there was no evidence candidates. In opposing re-establishment of a government-
linking him with any wrongdoing. controlled Press Council, Sri Lanka’s media community
Adding to the journalists’ sense of vulnerability was again achieved a moment of united purpose and action.
the case of J.S. Tissainayagam, arrested in March 2008 and This new spirit was underlined on the 10-year anniversary
sentenced in August 2009 to 20 years’ prison under the of the “Colombo Declaration for Media Freedom and Social
Prevention of Terrorism Act. He was accused in connection Responsibility”, observed in 2009.
with two articles written nearly three years before his
arrest and published in a now-defunct magazine, North- Journalist Flee for Safety
Eastern Monthly. His crime was documenting human rights There has however been little respite in the steady
abuses by the military and the humanitarian crisis that downward plunge in media morale. Many well-known
those displaced by the war were facing. After a vigorous journalists and media freedom activists have fled the country
international campaign, Tissainayagam was released on bail fearing for their lives, often opting for the easiest available
in January 2010, and given a presidential pardon on May way out, without having time to fully consider longer-term
3. He has since left the country. Tissainayagam served as an consequences or their ability to sustain themselves and
example to other journalists of what could happen to them their families outside the country. According to the newly
should they run afoul of the Government. formed group, Media Freedom Sri Lanka (MFSL), at least 34
Ethnic tensions between the country’s minority Tamils media personnel left the country in 2009. Of these, 24 have
and Sinhalese, coupled with the war that by United Nations applied for political asylum in western countries. A further
estimates cost 100,000 lives, have left their mark on the 13 media personnel fled the country in the first half of 2010.
media, which are divided along sectarian as well as political Several more have said they expect to leave if the repression
lines. But journalists say the intensity of the political battle continues.
between Rajapaksa and Fonseka drove the media to new Poddala Jayantha was one among several who left in
heights of partisanship, and consequently exposed some 2009. On the evening of June 1, 2009, he was taken captive
journalists to new dangers. for a couple of hours and brutally assaulted. He suffered
The intensity of the attacks saw media freedom serious fractures to one leg which will likely leave him with a
campaigning taking a nose-dive in 2009. The safe house and permanent disability.
media centre maintained by the collective of media rights Sunanda Deshapriya, a former convener of the FMM,
groups spearheaded by the Free Media Movement (FMM) now lives in exile in Geneva. He too fled Sri Lanka in 2009
in Colombo had to be shut down. Press statements on in fear for his life after being denounced as a traitor on
violations of freedom of expression were issued rarely. Anti- government websites and excoriated on call-in radio shows.
media proclamations by politicians remained unchallenged Lanka-e-News editor Sendaruwan Senadeera left the
while state-controlled media continued to level charges country shortly after the disappearance of Prageeth
against media freedom organisations and media activists. Eknaligoda in January 2010. He now lives in exile in
With the marked weakening of local media freedom London. In the five years he ran the website, he was often
activity, international advocacy became the major force in questioned by police but never detained for a long period
defending media freedom in Sri Lanka throughout 2009. In and never charged with any crime. “When there was a
May 2009, the IFJ published its annual South Asia report, legal process, I wasn’t worried. I had done nothing wrong,”
Under Fire, South Asia Press Freedom Report 2008 – 2009, which Senadeera said before he left the country. “But when they
dealt with Sri Lanka at length. In November the same year, grabbed Prageeth Eknaligoda, I knew the world had changed
the International Press Freedom Mission undertook a fourth and that period was over in Sri Lanka. I knew the laws didn’t
mission to Sri Lanka, led by the IFJ, with a mission report apply anymore. I have three options: abandon the website,
published in January 2010 setting out recommendations for fight the Government, or get ‘disappeared. I don’t feel
the media and the Government. defeated, but I do feel fed up.”

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

that the media were not claiming special

privileges, only speaking for the public’s
right to know.
The 1990s became of a period of
lost opportunities and betrayed
expectations for the civil rights and
media freedom movements. In 1994, a
new Government was elected with the
promise to revitalise democratic politics
and find a negotiated solution to the
conflict. Freedom of expression was one
of the main issues on which the new
Government focused. It appointed four
committees which submitted extensive
recommendations on media law reform
and other matters of consequence to
the free speech right. Though none
of the recommendations was
implemented as the Government
FMM activists carry coffin of Lasantha Wickrematunga (photo courtesy: FMM) renewed the war effort, the committees’
reports remain relevant.
Some journalists have left permanently; others are In its advocacy and campaigns, the FMM has since
waiting for the heat to die down so they can return home. focused on three major reforms in media law: a freedom
In March 2010, Attorney-General Mohan Peiris urged exiled of information act, the conversion of state-controlled
journalists to return as they were needed to rebuild the media to public service media, and the decriminalisation
country. He said it was not useful to have journalists staying of defamation. In 2003, then Prime Minister Ranil
away from the country and “attacking” the Government. Wickremasinghe introduced legislation decriminalising
“They must come back and work with us and help set up defamation and secured its passage
the structures so that we can work together and we can through parliament.
respect each other.” Peiris also assured exiled journalists of Extended cooperation between the local press
protection if they returned to Sri Lanka. community and international colleagues led to the
However, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), establishment of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), which
while welcoming Peiris’s assurance, urged him to take in turn hosts a Press Complaints Commission (PCCSL) and
immediate steps to prove he was serious about media a college of journalism. SLPI’s origins go back to 1998 when
freedom. As an initial step to provide assurance to exiled the FMM, the Editors’ Guild and the Newspaper Society
journalists who wished to return, JDS called on Peiris to of Sri Lanka signed what came to be called the Colombo
prove his good intentions by disclosing the whereabouts of Declaration on Media Freedom, after a three-day conference.
Eknaligoda and to expedite investigations into the many The declaration set out a media law reform agenda for the
unsolved crimes against media workers under the Mahinda Government and proposed a draft code of ethics and self-
Rajapaksa regime, and bring those responsible to book. regulatory mechanism for the print media. The Sri Lanka
“Unless the Government takes steps to allay the fears of Working Journalists’ Association (SLWJA) joined the charter
journalists working in Sri Lanka and ends the culture of in 2007. SLPI and the PCCSL were registered in 2003 and
impunity, the Attorney-General’s words will be another won significant financial support from donors in the Nordic
empty promise and the return of exiled journalists who countries.
love their country still a distant dream,” JDS said in a By 2002, partnerships with international organisations,
statement. including the IFJ, had acquired a concrete shape. In early
2000, the IFJ and the FMM conducted a two-day conference
Strategies of Unity and Struggle on the challenges facing journalists in Sri Lanka. Journalists
The media community’s endeavour to defend media rights who had remained divided by communal loyalties came
and the principles of press freedom began in 1992 with the together to discuss two urgent priorities: unity to secure
establishment of the FMM by a group of editors, journalists journalists’ rights and promoting good journalism attentive
and writers. Its inaugural public meeting in Colombo to people’s right to know. This set the base for the IFJ and
attracted wide publicity and generated hope among many Sri Lankan partner organisations to develop comprehensive
longing for a way out of the vicious cycle of ethnic and long-term strategies.
sectarian violence. This encouraged the FMM to organise In August 2003, media organisations representing several
countrywide public meetings on the “people’s right to language and ethnic groups met for a two-day conference
know the truth”. A cardinal principle of FMM activism was in an effort to work together for a more accountable and

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

impartial media. The conference was held at a crucial But this program of actively involving civil society in a
time, since peace talks were scheduled. All participating continuing – and often adversarial – engagement with the
organisations accepted the IFJ’s code of conduct as a national authorities, was severely damaged when the environment for
benchmark and agreed to promote it among members and civil dialogue effectively disintegrated with the resumption
affiliates. of active military operations in 2005.
One of the programs that brought journalists’ In assessing this phase of activism and struggle, a variety
organisations together initially dealt with conflict-sensitive of perspectives have emerged from a retrospective study
reporting, implemented by the IFJ in 2004. It followed from undertaken to prepare this report, based on a range of
deliberations conducted under media-in-conflict programs interviews with its most prominent participants.
that the perspective needed to be widened to include A former editor in Tamil, living in Jaffna, thinks that
journalism that served the public interest, or public service the SL5 strategy of unity and struggle had key contributions
journalism. to make when the last phase of the war began in 2005. But
Sri Lanka’s journalists’ organisations then engaged in the overpowering pall of fear that enveloped the media
consultations with local civil society groups and in 2004 the prevented working journalists from putting into practice the
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a research and advocacy principles of fair and balanced reporting to which they had
body based in Colombo, brought together all the ideas that committed in the 2005 Media Charter.
emerged into a draft law on public service media. The draft A journalism trainer, who had worked as a news editor
was presented to the Wickremasinghe Government, but the in the broadcast media, argues that the SL5 approach
initiative failed to make headway when the Government lost was successful in embedding an understanding among
mid-term elections called in 2004. journalists and media workers that there are many sides
In October 2005, the FMM, SLWJA and the Federation to any conflict and that their key challenge is to report all
of Media Employees’ Trade Unions (FMETU) joined two sides. In this respect, the SL5 program, undertaken with
other journalists’ organisations – the Sri Lanka Tamil international support, helped to change media discussions
Media Alliance (SLTMA) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Media of the war. Change often takes time to become manifest,
Forum (SLMMF) – and 22 other provincial journalists’ the trainer says. In this instance, the potentialities for
associations in the central town of Tholangamuwa. There, change inherent in the SL5 work were thwarted by the
they debated and adopted a Media Charter for a Democratic Government’s active program of suppression.
and Pluralist Media Culture and Social and Professional Another media activist and trainer based in Colombo
Rights for Media and Journalism in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s thinks that the planned and systematic manner in which
five media organisations at the national level (hereafter the media suppression was executed testified to the potent
SL5) cemented their unity on the basis of this charter and threat that the new awareness among journalists posed
agreed on implementing a joint program of activities and to the war camp. “The programs implemented by the SL5
campaigns. changed the media discourse in the country. The ethical
The public service journalism program conducted quality of any report is now often the subject matter of
by the SL5 in 2004-2006 became a turning point in discussion among journalists. SL5 efforts to bring in a
promoting good journalism and creating a countrywide change in reporting on conflict, human rights, gender and
network of media practitioners. For the first time, a media minorities issues, made a permanent mark on media culture
awards ceremony celebrating the values of public service in Sri Lanka”.
journalism and recognising notable examples was held A former SLWJA office-holder thinks that the media
in 2006. This awards program continued for the next two literature that was produced under the SL5 activities
years and acknowledged reporting on social diversity and will remain an important resource even in the changed
tolerance. In 2008, a human rights prize was conducted circumstances. The phase of active media suppression that
in conjunction with the public service journalism awards. followed the resumption of war in 2005 may have seen a
There were numerous award categories recognising the temporary eclipse in how widely the literature was read
linguistic and regional diversity of Sri Lanka, so that and discussed. But its accessibility will ensure that it can be
journalists from all parts of the island felt a sense of sourced when journalists need to face the challenges of the
participation and achievement. new phase in the country’s history.
In the coming years, the unity of the SL5 was the
bulwark for defending freedom of expression in Sri Lanka. Assessing Shortcomings and Failures
To say that the SL5 failed to cope with the heightened
Little Relief After War’s End media suppression that began in 2005 does not yet
Creating a critical mass among the media community amount to a complete explanation. It is also necessary
was a key strategic aim of the SL5 through its years of to consider why the response to the new climate of
activism during the worst of the war. Training programs intimidation proved inadequate and failed to dispel the pall
and workshops on various aspects of journalism assisted to of fear. Two factors need special mention: the absence of a
build this critical mass. Media law reform, ethical journalism wider sense of solidarity between journalists and the media
and journalists’ rights were the three pillars of this process. industry, and the authorities’ ability to portray international

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Mawbima: Targeted for In February 2007, the director in charge of editorial

Seeking to Report for All matters in Mawbima and its associated English-language
newspaper was threatened with death if the paper

I n November 2006, Munusamy Parameshwari, a 23-

year-old freelance Tamil journalist working for the
Sinhala weekly Mawbima, was arrested by the Terrorist
published adverse articles about the President or his
politically active brothers. The President is also
believed to have pressured several advertisers to
Investigations Department (TID) of the Sri Lankan police. pull out their advertisements from Standard Newspapers,
She was detained for four months and released only after the company that owned the newspaper titles.
widespread condemnation by local and international media The publishing house’s finance director was arrested in
freedom organisations. She had earlier been the victim of a February 2007 by the TID on accusations that the company
persistent campaign of vilification by government ministers had given money to Tamil separatists. He remained in
and state media. detention reportedly in intolerably humiliating
Parameshwari’s arrest was in retaliation for the conditions for 71 days.
reporting she had done on the abduction rackets run by Alles was also called to the TID office two to three
underground gangs enjoying political patronage – one times a week to record statements. Sometimes he was
among many human rights violations that began to cast questioned without respite. On March 5, 2007, his
a long shadow over civilian life in the last phase of the business office was raided by TID officers who seized all
war. There was also a clear message in the arrest for the financial documents and correspondence. A day later, the
publisher of the newspaper, Tiran Alles, who was a close Government suspended the mobile phone distributorship
political associate of President Mahinda Rajapakse but for North and East that a company belonging to Alles’
declined – despite reported demands from the President – business group had been holding. Two days later, the
to restrain his newly launched newspaper’s independent Government froze the accounts of the newspaper and all
editorial line. Indeed, Mawbima adopted a news and related companies.
editorial policy that was attentive to human rights issues The last issues of Mawbima and Sunday Standard were
and has been assessed to be among the most credible in published on March 24, 2007. They had both published for
bridging the deep ethnic schisms in the island nation. less than a year. Alles himself continued to be called in for
It had in a brief period of time, propelled itself to the interrogation and his harassment continued until he was
second position among Sinhala-language dailies in arrested in May 2007. No charges were brought and he was
terms of circulation. released on judicial orders within two weeks.

solidarity actions as an unfair targeting of Sri Lanka’s effort promptly intervening with the police and security
to combat terrorism. agencies in Colombo and alerting its global support
Since its foundation, SLPI has emerged as a significant network. The following month, Namal Perera, a Sinhala
platform for advocacy on media freedom and improving language journalist and deputy head of SLPI’s advocacy
professional standards. However, Sri Lanka’s principal section, was attacked as he drove through a Colombo
media organisations – all stakeholders in SLPI – frequently neighbourhood with a friend. Both men suffered
differed on the norms that should govern its functioning. serious injuries in what was an abduction attempt
Illustratively, the SLPI and the Editors’ Guild failed to that was abandoned when a crowd of people gathered
respond in a convincing manner to the victimisation of the at the site.
Mawbima reporter Munusamy Parameshwari in 2007, and to SLPI responded to these two attacks with a sense of
take a firm stand against the harassment of the newspaper purpose that was missing earlier. Meeting with members
company and its owners that followed, culminating in the of an International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka in
closure of two newspapers. October that year, one of Sri Lanka’s most senior newspaper
When the printing press of the Sunday Leader suffered editors was candid about what he saw as the main reason
an arson attack in November 2007, SLPI again did not for this patchy and erratic response to attacks on the press.
respond in a manner supportive of the fundamentals of press Though attacks had been common in earlier years, he said,
freedom. Partisan and political loyalties reportedly came in they tended principally to involve members of Sri Lanka’s
the way of a concerted response that would have pressured ethnic minorities. As such, these were seen as collateral
the Sri Lankan authorities to identify those responsible and damage of the ongoing civil conflict rather than as targeted
bring them to account. assaults on press freedom. When Noyahr and Perera were
In May 2008, Keith Noyahr, a widely-read defence attacked though, the reality became clear: that press freedom
columnist with the English-language weekly The Nation, was a cause that was worth fighting for, irrespective of the
was abducted and badly assaulted. The SL5 perhaps ethnic identity of the victim or the political perspective of
managed to save him from more serious physical harm by the institution concerned.

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 F r e e d om i n S ol i d a r it y : Media W o r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

Conclusions and
recommendations

J
ournalists have, through their unions and associations, campaigns. Ways have to be found to translate this deep
played a leading role in the struggles for democracy connection with local communities into internationally
and freedom of expression in South Asia. The kind comprehensible idioms.
of collective actions and outcomes have varied in the The best partnerships are those with long established
countries that constitute this research project. In times ties so that the international organisation is in a position to
of conflict and political turmoil, professional freedoms offer early, visible and ongoing support. The importance of
that underpin the ability of journalists to inform their regional and international networks arises from the crucial
communities are among the first rights curtailed, often moral support they can afford – through solidarity actions
with violence and other forms of harassment and – and through the pressure that a broader regional and
intimidation. In countries where journalists are organised international action can bring to a national or local issue.
into representative unions, they are better placed to The South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN),
respond to crises and will often be at the vanguard of civil established in 2002 when the IFJ Asia-Pacific brought
society action to push back against such restrictions. together unions and press freedom organisations, is a
These fundamentals aside, the common elements in regional network seeking to address a broad range of issues,
the struggles of journalists in South Asia are numerous. with members sharing information, experience and skills
To identify them is to lay the groundwork for successful across borders, allowing for more effective advocacy efforts
collective strategies in future, both within these countries and increased capacity-building of member unions and
and in cross-border solidarity actions. associations. In recent times, SAMSN has sought to bring on
The first lesson is that journalists’ need to be organised board journalists’ collectives in parts of India like Kashmir,
in representative bodies that can speak and act on behalf Chhattisgarh and the north-east to establish a broad
of the entire professional community. This involves consensus on principles and campaign strategies in defence
democratic structures and practices that encourage the of press freedom.
broadest participation with linkages being established The experience of SAMSN and the IFJ Asia-Pacific
across the country. It is no coincidence that success has generally is that regional and international networking is
been more obvious in countries with a united journalists’ best served by quick and complete flows of information.
community. The initial call by a local union for international support
Second, collective struggles are strengthened and and solidarity should leave little room for ambiguity, since
have greater impact when they forge alliances with global organisations need to be confident they have assessed
diverse civil society actors. This is an obvious inference, all relevant data before endorsing a position on any issue.
though there are only rare conjunctures – as in Nepal’s Sharing experiences in cases where efforts at lobbying
movement against monarchical despotism in 2006 and and advocacy have been successful – or even when they
Pakistan’s successful campaign against its military have not – has contributed to greater effectiveness long-
autocracy in 2008 – when this manner of a broad alliance term. Some unions and journalists’ associations in South
has worked well so far. In Sri Lanka, the journalists’ Asia have had great success in, for example, protecting
community set an example of inter-ethnic cooperation journalists at risk, influencing legislation with a bearing
that was able to lead and unite civil society in a public on media functioning, and establishing government
campaign for democracy and press freedom, before mechanisms – such as funds – to assist victims of conflict.
politically adverse circumstances intervened. The challenge Since this often calls for funding commitments from donor
for journalists’ unions then is to create and maintain links agencies and broader civil society, unions are clearly served
with civil society that could energise and bolster their by a policy of transparency in these matters.
actions at any given time in the future. There is a message here for international donor
The case for international networking is powerful, organisations too, which often confine their support
since this has proved in all instances to have a beneficial within national territorial boundaries. A complex region
force-multiplier effect for local campaigns. A successful like South Asia, with its legacy of shared histories, will
international dimension is established when a strong respond best if there is a built-in cross-border element in
local union or association is in place and is able to sustain all action strategies. This is simply because all the regions
networks beyond domestic borders. Further, experience regarded as problematic in South Asia – from Khyber
shows international networks are most effective when they Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan to Nepal’s terai and the north-
are sufficiently well-informed of the local movement and east of India – are the way they are because the politics
can move beyond linguistic barriers, which have often of centralisation and state-control prevent cross-border
been a pitfall in cooperation between journalists’ bodies. affinities from having fair play.
Working with established representative bodies such as Media policy and law remains an area where unions
local unions ensures deep roots in the community and have to remain actively engaged. Though in most
access to reliable information vital to ensure effective countries the constraints arising from prior governmental

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 Fr e e d o m i n S ol i d a r i t y : M e d i a Wo r king fo r P ea ce in So ut h As ia

monopolies over the broadcast media have been rendered and associations have built campaigns first at a local level,
superfluous by the boom in private sector media, issues of and internationally with IFJ support. Ending impunity is
regulation and ethical conduct remain of vital relevance. crucial. An exercise to map the impunity experience across
As the experience of India shows, a boom in private sector South Asia to identify similarities and common actions
broadcasting does not ensure quality content or attention and lessons for campaigns should be explored by unions in
to the public interest. And as the Sri Lanka case has shown, conjunction with the broader media and legal community.
the proliferation of alternative channels does not mitigate All South Asia’s media professionals need to participate
the dangers arising from the abuse of state-owned broadcast in a debate over the transfer to public control of resources
media. In Nepal, journalists’ unions have made significant built up by state-controlled broadcasters. The conventional
strides in securing the acknowledgment that the National thinking that governments embody the public interest
Broadcasting Act 1992 must be revised to allow institutional needs to be abandoned. It is essential to bring the debate
autonomy to the broadcast media and to remove the about public service broadcasting centrestage and enable
Government’s absolute power over broadcasting licences. the transfer of these resources to autonomous trusts with
Unions must take steps to ensure that initial success in governance structures free from political ties. Some unions
obtaining acceptance in principle is followed by effective have already made strides in this area and a way to share
measures of implementation. experiences and build a common campaign should be
The broadcast sector has enormous potential in all found.
countries covered by this report. But with the exception This research work has noted that a comprehensive
of Nepal – and to a limited degree, Bangladesh – the national training and education program for journalists
laws governing the community broadcast sector remain and media workers is needed in all five countries, with the
restrictive, targeted more towards containing public moral support and the investment of financial resources
initiative and involvement rather than promoting these. by media owners, managers and unions. This process
Unions need to involve themselves in this sector in the should develop basic courses in ethics, professional skills,
widest possible way to secure the participation of all management and business planning. Training programs
democratic civil society actors in community broadcasting. would need to ensure greater participation of excluded
At the same time, the power to terminate publishing groups in all countries.
and broadcasting through applicable laws on registration Unions should ensure that their structures provide
and licensing should be curtailed. All such decisions, if at strong links between the national capitals and the more
all required, should be subject to adjudication in accordance remote areas of South Asian countries, where the challenges
with fair and transparent legal norms. facing journalists are especially acute. This is vital so the
Ethics and guidelines for professional journalism must challenges to the exercise of the free speech right in distant
be codified by media organisations and unions. All unions areas can gain traction and become issues of wide public
in the countries covered in this report have made important concern with the support of unions in national capitals
breakthroughs in this respect. In all five countries, these and the metropolitan centres. Better ways of connecting
efforts should retain a high priority and unions should journalists and sharing communications are needed.
institutionalise democratic values and build resistance to Unions should consider creating a representative
pressure from political parties and their affiliates, as well as structure of young journalists and media workers, to address
vested business interests. There is, of course, the unspoken the apparent disinterest of many younger professionals in
truth in these countries that underground groups and supporting journalists’ organisations with long histories
criminal gangs often have a voice in the media through the in the defence of rights. This is a crucial investment in the
fear they foster. Experience shows that no better defence future of media freedom in all these countries.
exists against these threats than unity in a professional Unions, of course, must continue to live up to their
cause and adherence to a declared code of conduct by conventional role in delivering improved pay and working
journalists. conditions to all media workers. Current approaches to
Killings, attacks and abductions of journalists and media this basic issue, especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh and
workers have been common occurrences in all five countries India, which have institutionalised processes of wage
and have had a chilling effect on freedom of expression. determination through statutory wage boards, need to
Invariably, each such instance provokes a closing of ranks be reassessed and a regional campaign developed to shift
among media professionals and an affirmation that no employers’ attitudes toward the workers’ rights.
such case will go unpunished. But impunity is an imbedded Women’s participation in the profession is increasing,
culture in South Asia and a means has to be found by the and hearteningly so, also in media unions. Unions must
media community to ensure that this ceases to be the case. continue to take steps to actively encourage women’s
Journalists’ organisations must take steps to ensure that participation at all levels.
authorities act effectively and swiftly to investigate and Finally, unions should look to new media technologies
prosecute abuses of media rights. for organising and keeping members informed and active.
Lessons can be learned from outside the region too, as This would in some measure also address the feelings of
in the Philippines and Indonesia where strong local unions isolation and forge solidarity across geographical barriers.

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 Visit asiapacific.ifj.org or www.ifj.org for more information.

The IFJ is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes coordinated international action to defend press freedom and social
justice through the development of strong, free and independent trade unions of journalists. IFJ Asia-Pacific coordinates IFJ activities in the
Asia-Pacific region. The IFJ works closely with the United Nations, particularly UNESCO, the United Nations OHCHR, WIPO and the ILO,
the International Committee of the Red Cross, the European Union, the Council for Europe and with a range of international trade union and
freedom of expression organisations. The IFJ mandate covers both professional and industrial interests of journalists.