Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has expressed deep concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the tribal areas particularly for the journalists following the recent death threats to three journalists working in these areas.
The PFUJ also condemned the firing incident on Thursday, in which Pakistani crew members of a British TV team were hurt and appealed to the foreign journalists, media teams visiting Pakistan for reporting on the situation in the tribal areas to provide safety to the "fixers," who are mostly local journalists.
"We feared that journalists can become the prime target as situation in the coming weeks or months may aggravate and the media groups must adopt safety for their staff and their families before its too late," PFUJ said in a statement. "We are concern about the life of Zafar Wazir of private TV channel and correspondent of Urdu daily Aaj, Anwar Shakir of AFP, and free lance journalist Deen Mohammad." There are few other journalists in the area who are under threat. Most of them are working as "fixers," mainly because their own local organisations hardly pay them enough.
All the journalists working in Fata and even in the settled areas like Swat, should immediately be hired as regular employees, should be paid handsome salaries, given extra bonus, life saving jackets, helmets, life insurance of the families (as often they were targeted), medical cover. In case they face threats or on target they should be transferred to safer places, it said.
"The organisations must take care of their staff as they will be held responsible in case they did not provide safety cover and journalists become the target," PFUJ said. Six journalists had been killed for their professional work in the tribal areas, while several of them had either quit their profession or left their homes and shifted to DI Khan or Peshawar. "Not a single journalist working in one of the world's most dangerous places for reporting are either trained for conflict reporting nor equipped to meet these challenges unlike those reporting from Iraq or Afghanistan," it said.
Suspected militants have warned three tribal journalists in troubled South Waziristan against working for foreign media. "This is not fooling. One has to take the threat seriously," he said. Threat was made in pamphlets distributed in main Wana bazaar and in front of two mosques on Monday.
Anwar Shakir was onboard a vehicle, which was ambushed on February 7, 2005, in Wana killing two journalists, Allah Noor and Amir Nawab. Shakir was seriously wounded in the ambush. The government has made no progress so far into murder of two journalists in the ambush.
The PFUJ appealed to journalists not to become "fixer" or work for any foreign media groups without ensuring safety cover. It also directed its affiliate the Khyber Union of Journalists (KUJ) to keep close liaison with the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), and sent complete report to PFUJ on the situation.
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