Uwazi

Shahid Zehri, a reporter for a local TV news channel Metro News 1 was killed on October 10 when a bomb exploded in his car in the Hub area of Balochistan province. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), urge the Pakistan government to ensure those involved in the attack are promptly brought to justice.

Journalist Zehri, 35, and friend, were travelling to Karachi by car when a bomb detonated around midnight on October 10. Both suffered critical injuries. CCTV footage confirms the bomb was attached to the journalist’s car where it exploded. Some reports suggested it was a homemade device.

The injured journalist and friend were initially taken to Hub Civil Hospital then subsequently brought to Karachi for treatment. The journalist, Zehri, was declared dead at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi.

Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack. The group also claimed that the journalist was spying on them. IFJ understands Zehri was a strong voice for the Hub Chowki, often reported on unrest in the region. Pakistan’s Baluchistan province has not enacted any legislation protecting journalists.

According to the IFJ’s South Asia Press Freedom Report 2020-2021, nine journalists were murdered in Pakistan in 2020-2021.

Pakistan: Police baton-charged students protesting against online entrance exams.

Pakistani activists say police have raided a camp set up by landmine victims in the northwestern tribal district of South Waziristan.

Sherzada Mehsud of the civil rights Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) told RFE/RL that one of its leaders was injured during the raid on September 21.

The protesters later blocked the road between the Makin and Tank areas calling for the head of the local police station be suspended.

South Waziristan police chief Shaukat Ali said he was investigating the case and that he will later share details with the media.

Several landmine victims and civil rights activists have staged a sit-in in the Kotki area of South Waziristan for more than two weeks, calling on the authorities to clear landmines and provide financial assistance and jobs to those wounded by the weapons, as well as compensation to the families of those killed.

Thousands of South Waziristan residents have returned to their homes after a Pakistani military offensive against Islamist militants forced them to abandon them in 2009.

Pakistani security forces say they have begun operations to clear South Waziristan and other tribal areas of landmines that have claimed lives or seriously wounded hundreds of people.

The Pakistani authorities must ensure a thorough, independent, and impartial inquiry into allegations that excessive force was used by the Punjab Police against doctors and medical students protesting a new qualification exam last month, said Amnesty International, after reviewing video footage of the protests.

Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that dozens of police officers baton-charged, used water cannons, and an irritant spray to clear peaceful demonstrators at separate demonstrations in Lahore on 27 and 30 August. At least 20 protestors were reported to have been hospitalized following the incidents. Video footage reviewed by Amnesty International appears to show heavy-handed use of batons by police which may amount to excessive and illegal use of force.

“Attacking peaceful protestors who present no threat of violence with excessive force is grotesque, punitive, and a violation of the right to peaceful assembly,” said Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.

“Health workers have been on the frontlines of the pandemic, and at a time when they must be provided with support and resources, they are being attacked and sent to the hospital as patients. The authorities must launch an immediate investigation into these serious allegations.”

“It felt like someone had set us on fire”

According to four protestors interviewed by Amnesty International, at least 20 doctors landed in the Intensive Care Units of two hospitals in Lahore. At least two of them are reported to have sustained bone fractures, while many are said to have suffered burns from an irritant that was sprayed at them by the police. Some reported facing respiratory issues from inhaling the spray. Although Amnesty International has been able to verify that a spray was deployed by police, the organization has not been able to confirm what the spray contained.

Dr Mudassar Malik, 24, one of the protestors who sustained grievous injuries on Friday, 27 August, said that after being sprayed directly on his face, he couldn’t breathe and began vomiting. He was rushed to the hospital by emergency services. “I could not open my eyes, it felt like someone had stuck needles in them,” he said.

Dr Akbar Ranjha, 25, another doctor present on Sunday, 29 August, when the clashes erupted, was also sprayed in the face and has a hairline arm fracture. A fellow protestor tried to douse him with water, which made the burns worse. While the police have been quoted in media reports as saying that they used pepper spray, Dr Malik said, “We are doctors. We know that water can relieve the burns from pepper spray. This was not pepper spray. It felt like someone had set us on fire.”

Dr Mahnoor Lodhi, 23, said that the campaign against the exam had been ongoing for the last four months and had been proceeding peacefully. Present at the protest on Friday, 27 August, she was hit on the arm with a baton, before being hit by a water-cannon. “It was supposed to be a peaceful protest. Even if my physical injuries heal, I don’t know how to fix the mental trauma this has caused,” she said.

“It is worrying that despite so many people sustaining injuries during the protests, no formal enquiry has been launched by the authorities into the incident even after 11 days. Authorities must seriously scrutinize the policing of protests. From the accounts of the victims, it is unclear if the police attempted to de-escalate tensions and use alternatives to force, to manage the situation,” said Rimmel Mohydin.

Amnesty International calls for the use of excessive force by the police to be thoroughly, immediately, and impartially investigated. If excessive force is found to have been used, the perpetrators must be held to account for violating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, guaranteed by Pakistan’s constitution and international human rights law.

Background

The students and doctors were protesting a new compulsory exam to register with the Pakistan Medical Council, previously reserved for students who received their MBBS degrees from foreign universities.

On 6 April 2020, 53 doctors and other health workers protesting the lack of resources, personal protective equipment (PPE), and security from the government in Quetta were baton-charged, arrested, and then detained in police stations. While the doctors were released within 24 hours, it is unclear if this incident was ever investigated.

Law enforcement authorities have a duty to facilitate peaceful protests, and should not disperse a demonstrations or arrest protestors merely to regulate traffic. Under the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, police may only resort to force for a legitimate law enforcement purpose and may not use more force than what is needed to achieve this objective. If resorting to the use of force, they must minimize harm and injury, and should never cause more harm than they want to prevent. This means that they should never use weapons likely to cause injury against people who are only peacefully resisting.

Pakistan authorities should immediately drop their investigations into journalists Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat, and cease harassing members of the press in retaliation for their coverage of public institutions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On August 7, officers with the Federal Investigation Agency arrested Mir, CEO of the privately owned news agency Googly News TV, and Shafqat, who hosts the YouTube news commentary channel Tellings with Imran Shafqat, according to news reports and both journalists, who spoke with CPJ in phone interviews.

Googly News TV publishes on a website and YouTube channel, which has about 360,000 subscribers; Tellings with Imran Shafqat is a YouTube channel with about 120,000 subscribers. Both outlets feature investigative reporting and political commentary on Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policy.

Officers arrested Mir at about 10:30 a.m. while he was on his way to Googly News TV’s office in the city of Lahore, held him for about 10 hours, and then released him on bail pending investigation, he told CPJ. Officers arrested Shafqat at about 12:30 p.m. at his home, also in Lahore, held him for about five hours, and then also released him on bail, he said.

Officers confiscated two phones and a laptop from Mir during his arrest and demanded his passwords, which he refused to divulge; officers also confiscated Shafqat’s phone, the journalists told CPJ. Shafqat said officers returned his SIM card upon his release, and Mir said his phones and laptop were still in official custody.

“Pakistan authorities’ arrests of journalists Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat are emblematic of the government’s ongoing campaign to chill critical reporting,” said Carlos Martinez de La Serna, CPJ’s program director. “The Federal Investigation Agency must immediately drop its investigations into the journalists, return their confiscated devices, and cease harassing members of the press in retaliation for their coverage.”

Authorities are investigating the journalists for alleged electronic forgery; making, obtaining, or supplying a device for an offense; and the transmission of malicious code, all crimes under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, according to a press release issued by the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Authorities are also investigating Mir and Shafqat under articles of the Pakistan penal code pertaining to forgery for the purpose of harming a reputation; defamation; issuing a statement with an intent to cause public mischief; and insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment, that press release said.

Each of those offenses can carry a prison sentence between six months and seven years, and a fine up to five million rupees (US$30,425), according to that law and the penal code.

Mir and Shafqat each issued statements denying the allegations against them, which CPJ reviewed.

Babar Bakht Qureshi, director of the Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime wing, said that Mir and Shafqat were arrested after posting “scandalous content” on social media following a complaint by Murad Saeed, the federal minister for communications and minister for postal services, according to reports.

CPJ called Saeed’s office at the Ministry of Communications for comment, but received a message that the line was unavailable; CPJ emailed the ministry but did not receive any reply.

Mir and Shafqat told CPJ that officials questioned them separately about the reasons behind their alleged criticism of Pakistan’s army and judiciary online, but did not cite specific reports during the interrogations. Officials also demanded that Mir and Shafqat issue affidavits stating that they will refrain from criticizing Pakistan’s army and judiciary, but they refused to comply, they said.

Mir told CPJ that he received a partial copy of the police report relating to him and Shafqat, but had not received a full copy. Shafqat told CPJ that he had not received a copy of the police report.

The partial copy of the police report, which CPJ reviewed, cites several videos posted to the YouTube channels of Googly News TV and Tellings with Imran Shafqat, including commentary on the Pakistan army’s role in governance, the judiciary, and the regional impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Since July 2020, Mir has received two notices and a questionnaire from the Federal Investigation Agency in relation to Googly News TV’s commentary on YouTube about the army, judiciary, and Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to Mir and copies of the notices, which CPJ reviewed.

CPJ emailed Federal Investigation Agency Director-General Sanaullah Abbasi for comment, but did not receive any reply.

Politicians and journalists on Sunday criticised the summons notice issued to anchorperson Nadeem Malik by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Counter-Terrorism Wing to appear before it and cooperate in the case regarding the video scandal of former accountability court judge Arshad Malik.

According to the notice dated July 2, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the FIA has summoned the anchorperson under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code. "Please refer to your 'Nadeem Malik Live Programme' on Samaa News dated April 28, 2021, [that] revealed that you have important information which can be relevant for the agency to further investigate the above mentioned case and to link some relevant persons with this case," said the notice.

Malik was requested to appear at the FIA's headquarters on July 6 with "all relevant information, documents and evidence."

In the aforementioned programme, Malik said he was informed by two individuals, part of the FIA team investigating Judge Malik, that "the other party" — declining to identify it — had found an old objectionable video of the judge. The unidentified persons had summoned the judge and told him that the video would "come out in public view" if he didn't give a favourable decision in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference.

"Judge Arshad Malik then went and announced the decision and Nawaz Sharif was disqualified," the anchorperson had said, adding that he was quoting verbatim what he had been told by the sources. He had also said that he could not divulge on-air the full details that had been shared with him since they involved certain individuals from "very powerful institutions".

Reacting to news of the notice, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal "strongly" condemned it and hailed Malik as "one of the most professional journalists of Pakistan."

PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said the notice was "highly condemnable and is yet more proof that this fascist regime won’t rest till the little remaining space for freedom of speech is eliminated", calling for the FIA to "immediately withdraw" it.

"FIA’s notice to Nadeem Malik, a reputable journalist, for personal appearance before the agency over his remarks on the notorious Arshad Malik case, is the latest example of unfolding fascism," said journalist Syed Talat Hussain. He claimed that the media was facing a "total assault".

Columnist and journalist Ansar Abbasi also praised Malik as an "honourable journalist" and said he became the "latest victim of [the] FIA’s misadventures against [the] media."

Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi, executive editor of Nayadaur Media, called on Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah to take suo moto notice of the incident and summon the FIA officials for their "continued and consistent harassment of journalists".

Earlier this week, Justice Minallah, while hearing petitions filed against ongoing inquiries by the FIA’s cybercrime wing against journalists Bilal Ghauri, Asad Toor and others, had warned the investigation agency to exercise its powers judiciously or else the court would impose heavy cost on the officers for misuse of authority.

When the chief justice inquired from the FIA cybercrime wing’s director Babar Bakhat Qureshi about the number of pending complaints, Qureshi informed the court that they were in the thousands. The chief justice then asked him why the FIA was giving the impression that it was proceeding against only journalists.

“You need to dispel this impression, since crushing the dissenting voices is against the Islamic injunctions and norms of civilised society,” he had remarked. What is the Arshad Malik case?

In December 2018, Judge Malik had convicted Nawaz in the Al-Azizia reference, sentencing him to seven years in jail. However, he had acquitted the former prime minister in the Flagship reference.

In July 2020, after a year-long inquiry, the Lahore High Court’s administration committee had removed Malik from service on charges of misconduct relating to a video scandal that broke in 2019, and which sent ripples through political and legal circles.

The scandal was brought to the limelight by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who had at the time come forward with video clips purportedly showing Malik confessing that he had been “pressured and blackmailed” to convict Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.

The former judge passed away in December 2020 after contracting the coronavirus.

Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad summoned journalist Muhammad Bilal Ghauri for questioning for alleged defamatory remarks made through his YouTube channel. The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) urges authorities to cease the intimidation of journalists who have a right to freedom of expression and questioning attacks on their profession.

The summon notice issued on June 22 under the Pakistan Electronic Crime Act (PECA), ordered Ghauri to appear before the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Islamabad at 11 am on June 25. But the notice failed to mention the specific accusation levelled against him.

According to a letter from M. Waseem Sikandar, a sub-inspector at the FIA, the summons was in response to a complaint filed by Syed Abbas Mohiuddin, a politician from Attock district and member of the provincial assembly. The letter warned that failing to adhere the notice’s order would result in further legal action under section 174 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Muhammad Bilal Ghauri, a contributor for the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Jang, has been on indefinite leave from his office since May 5 and he currently runs a show on YouTube about pertinent political and social issues. On June 21, he broadcast a show entitled ‘Major General Manzoor Ahmed's Petition’ which is linked to the FIA.

The Pakistani military is documented as putting increasing pressure on media houses for reporting that is critical to the Pakistani military and a number of journalists have been put on “leave” following such pressure on media companies. The imposition of “indefinite leave” on Ghauri for his reporting and the subsequent summoning by the FIA points to a clear pattern of intimidation by the military.

On May 31, journalist and vlogger Asad Ali Toor was also summoned on accusation of defaming a government institution thorough a social media post. So too, television talk show host, Hamid Mir, was taken off air on May 31 after a speech deemed as critical of the Pakistani military.

A Pakistani lawyer who won acquittal for a Christian couple on blasphemy charges has asked for a security detail after he received death threats by Muslim extremists.

Shafqat Emmanuel Masih and his wife, Shughufta Kausar Masih, had spent eight years on death row while waiting for a court to hear their appeal against an earlier blasphemy conviction.

The trial court had convicted the couple on flimsy evidence linking them to an English-language text message that had been sent to a local Islamic cleric. The couple is illiterate in their own language and does not speak English.

Their attorney, Saiful Mulook, said on June 14 that he and his family have been threatened repeatedly since a court earlier in June overturned the couple's conviction.

Mr Malook shared social media posts with the BBC which called for him to be "executed" for securing the acquittal.

Blasphemy is a deeply emotive topic in Muslim-majority Pakistan and is legally punishable by death.

While no one has ever been executed for the offence, dozens of people accused of blaspheming have been killed by vigilantes.

Human rights groups say the country's blasphemy laws often unfairly target religious minorities and can be used in personal feuds.

Earlier this month, the high court in Lahore quashed the convictions of Christian couple Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel, citing a lack of evidence.

The pair were sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad. They insisted they were innocent. Ms Kausar's brother told the BBC last year he doubted the couple were literate enough even to have written the messages.

The couple's lawyer, Mr Malook, previously also represented Asia Bibi, a Christian villager who spent eight years on death row in a case that attracted international condemnation.

Ms Bibi was eventually acquitted by Pakistan's supreme court in 2018 and subsequently flown out of the country. The legal ruling led to large and violent protests by thousands of followers of a hardline cleric.

But Mr Malook, who is the most prominent lawyer defending blasphemy cases in Pakistan, told the BBC that he considered the current threats against him the "most dangerous" he had ever received.

"Even this was not done during Asia Bibi's case," he said. "Now they [the extremists] think I am the only hurdle in their way."

He criticised the government for not providing him with adequate security. "Not even a clerk from the Pakistani government has contacted me," he said. Pakistani officials did not reply to a request for comment.

It is not clear how serious the specific threats are to Mr Malook, but in 2014 a lawyer representing another blasphemy defendant was shot dead. Rashid Rehman was sitting in his office when he was shot and two of his assistants were injured.

Blasphemy convictions in Pakistan by lower courts are often overturned on appeal. Human rights activists say more junior judges are intimidated into convicting suspects despite flaws in their cases.

Hearings at Lahore High Court in the case of Ms Kausar, a caretaker at a Christian school, and her paralysed husband Mr Emmanuel, had been repeatedly delayed.

Mr Malook suggested the judges were concerned at the possibility of being targeted themselves if they acquitted the pair. In April, however, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging Pakistan to reform its blasphemy laws, citing concerns over the Kausar-Emmanuel case in particular.

Mr Malook told the BBC that had case had not been highlighted internationally, he feared the appeal would've been delayed indefinitely.

A Pakistani television station Monday took a prominent journalist off air, removing him as host of a popular talk show after he criticized the country’s powerful military, the journalist and rights groups said.

The development comes just days after the journalist, Hamid Mir, made a fiery speech at a rally in support of a fellow reporter, Asad Ali Toor, who was beaten up by three unidentified men in his apartment in Islamabad.

Geo News TV did not comment on the changes regarding its “Capital Talk,” a five-days-a-week program during which Mir would invite guests to debate current events in the country. Journalists and press freedom advocates often accuse Pakistan’s military and its agencies of harassing and attacking journalists. The government insists it supports freedom of speech.

In a statement on Twitter, Amnesty International denounced the ban on Mir and asked Pakistani authorities to protect free speech. “Censorship, harassment, and physical violence must not be the price journalists pay to do their jobs,” it said.

Also on Monday, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan denounced Geo News for taking Mir off air. It said the action against him comes after he spoke fervidly against the escalation of curbs on freedom of expression in the country.

Local journalists’ groups, which document attacks or violations against journalists in Pakistan, say the period from May 2020 to April 2021 saw 148 such attacks.

Mir confirmed his removal in a text message to The Associated Press. He later tweeted that it was nothing new for him. “I was banned twice in the past,” said Mir, who had also in the past been fired by Geo News.

Mir was attacked in 2014 in the port city of Karachi, when a gunman critically wounded him. His family at the time blamed the country’s intelligence service for orchestrating the attack. The perpetrator was never publicly known.

Geo News’ move drew swift condemnation by journalists, politicians, and members of civil society groups. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists asked the TV station to explain whether the step was taken under government pressure.

The station’s owner, Mir Shakilur Rehman, was arrested last year in a decades-old case related to allegations of tax evasion in a real estate purchase. He was freed months later on a court order.

Toor, the journalist beaten in his apartment, works for the Aaj News Pakistani TV. He later told police his attackers claimed they were from the Inter-Services Intelligence. However, the spy agency days later distanced itself from the attack.

On Friday, Mir along with dozens of Pakistani journalists attended a rally in Islamabad to condemn the attack on Toor. So far, authorities have not arrested anyone in connection with the attack and police say they are still investigating.

Asad Ali Toor, an Aaj Television journalist and vlogger often critical of the Pakistani military, was attacked by unknown assailants in his apartment in Islamabad on May 25. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), urges the authorities to investigate the case objectively and for justice to be delivered.

According to a statement from Asad Ali Toor, more than three gunmen broke into his house at 11pm (18:00 GMT) on May 25, and savagely assaulted him, “I was threatened by showing the pistol, dragged to my bedroom, beaten up mercilessly. When I shouted for help, they gagged off my mouth, threw to the hard floor and hit on my elbow with buts of pistol”, the statement reads. Toor’s electronic devices, including his mobile phone, were snatched. CCTV footage shows that the journalist’s hand and feet were tied.

Toor’s arms were bruised and his sleeves were coloured red with his blood. Immediately, the journalist was taken to a local hospital for treatment and his health condition is reported to be stable.

According to Toor, the assailants identified themselves as being agents of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and warned him not to cover the ISI. He was told to say ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (Long Live Pakistan) to prove his patriotism.

The journalist who is also the host of the YouTube channel, "Asad Toor Uncensored” is known for this critical report about the Pakistan military. In September 2020, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Toor accusing him of defaming the military by spreading propaganda through his facebook posts. However, the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) dismissed the case and described it as ‘infructuous’.

According to the IFJ’s South Asia Press Freedom Report 2020- 2021, nine journalists and media workers were murdered and 36 media rights violations were committed in Pakistan from May 2020 to April 2021.

A judge in the Pakistani city of Peshawar ordered police on Friday to open an investigation into the organisers of a march marking International Women’s Day over allegations they committed blasphemy.

Police in Islamabad had previously refused to open a case, saying the allegations were based on fake social media posts after doctored images and video from the March 8 event went viral.

The petition, lodged by a group of lawyers in Peshawar, alleges slogans and messages on placards and banners on display during the march in Islamabad were “un-Islamic and obscene” and insulted the Prophet Mohammad and one of his wives.

The organisers of the march said in a statement: “These lies and the outrageous allegations of blasphemous slogans and banners in particular have been definitively debunked many times over.”

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, and although no executions have been carried out, suspects are often killed by vigilantes.

Protests calling for vigilante violence against the march organisers followed the social media storm and on March 12 the Pakistan Taliban issued a statement threatening the activists.

The march organisers called on the government to provide protection for the activists in the wake of the court order.

Pakistani police have registered a blasphemy case against organisers of the feminist Aurat Azadi [Women’s Freedom] March in a northwestern city, while a court in the country’s second city dismissed the same charges as having no grounds.

Police in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar registered the First Information Report (FIR) under the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which can carry a mandatory death penalty, on Thursday.

In a statement, organisers of the march, which is held annually to mark International Women’s Day on March 8, condemned the allegations as “baseless and false”.

“Since the March, women marchers have been met with countless death and rape threats including a leading newspaper, Daily Ummat, referring to [feminist] marchers as prostitutes and whores,” said the statement.

“These accusations and threats have now gone as far as falsely accusing us of blasphemy, an accusation that gravely endangers the lives of hundreds of women.”

Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where the country’s strict laws mandate the death penalty for the crime of insulting Islam’s Prophet, and carry a life sentence for insulting Islam’s holy book, the Quran. The feminist organisers have been accused of the former offence.

In Lahore, a court dismissed a similar petition for being based on questionable video evidence and said the demonstrators’ right to protest was protected under constitutional protections for free speech. “The fact that the petitioner took offence from a vague slogan and labelled it as blasphemy reflects his own state of mind and pattern of thought,” read the order from Judge Hafiz Rizwan Aziz.

“He has alleged a very serious offence without any iota of supporting material.”

Allegations of blasphemy surfaced soon after this year’s march, appearing to be centered on doctored video and images. Organisers shared side-by-side comparisons of the original and doctored videos, the latter of which made it appear as if demonstrators were chanting against Allah.

“We are being incriminated for crimes we never committed, slogans that were never raised, and banners that were never carried,” said organisers in Thursday’s statement.

“Additionally, the incidents which are being falsely framed as blasphemous in these charges are not even from the Islamabad March and the allegations regarding them have been thoroughly debunked by both media outlets and the respective city chapters where they came up.”

Organisers said the blasphemy case was registered in Peshawar “to satisfy the bloodthirst of religious extremist vigilantes”.

This week, the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party has held days of violent protests across Pakistan on the issue of blasphemy, demanding the French ambassador be expelled over comments by French President Emmanuel Macron last year that were perceived to be “blasphemous”.

Pakistan’s government on Thursday declared the TLP a “terrorist organisation” and cracked down on activists across the country, after at least two policemen were killed and more than 500 wounded in those protests.

The French government, meanwhile, has advised all French citizens and companies to temporarily leave Pakistan due to the security situation around the TLP’s protests.

Pakistani police Wednesday opened an investigation into the shooting and wounding of a former prominent journalist and head of the state media regulator, who has been a vocal critic of the military and its alleged meddling in politics.

Absar Alam, who is in his 50s, was shot Tuesday at by an unknown person in a park close to his home in Islamabad, police said in a statement.

He headed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) for two years under former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had fallen out with the military before he was sacked by a court on corruption charges, which he denies.

Alam was shot in the ribs and was hospitalized but out of danger, police said.

"I have not lost my spirit, and I will not lose my spirit," Alam said in a video message he recorded in a car on his way to hospital after the attack.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's relations with the press and broadcasters have become increasingly strained since he took office after the 2018 election.

Opponents say Khan secured office with the help of a crackdown on the media by the military, which has a history of involvement in Pakistani politics, including staging coups to oust civilian governments.

The military denies meddling in politics or involvement in the shooting.

"We vehemently deny this. The military has nothing to do with this," the military's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) wing told Reuters.

Activists say the crackdown on the media since 2018 has left 3,000 journalists and other media workers jobless.

Alam alleged in a tweet over the weekend that the current chief of the military's ISI spy wing called him when he was PEMRA chief to reinstate live coverage by a local TV channel of an Islamist group. The Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) choked Islamabad in 2017 with protests aimed at cartoons published in France depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

The TLP called an end Tuesday to the violent nationwide anti-France protests after the government called a parliamentary vote on whether to expel the French ambassador over the same issue.

Amnesty International and the Community to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on authorities to investigate the shooting and find those responsible.

The shooting "highlights the dangerous climate that all members of the press face in Pakistan if they dare to criticize the country's powerful military," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan among the five deadliest countries for journalists in 2020, when four journalists were killed.

Police in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province have fired tear gas at protesters as they attempted to reach Islamabad to press their demands over the killing of four teenage boys in their region near the border with Afghanistan.

About 3,000 demonstrators from the rural area around the town of Jani Khel launched a protest caravan early on March 28 that was composed of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and the bodies of the four boys.

But the group was stopped by a police blockade on a bridge across the Tochi River, about 15 kilometers south of the town of Bannu.

The standoff is taking place in former tribal regions of Pakistan that were merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in 2018.

Mohsin Dawar, a deputy who represents North Waziristan in Pakistan’s national parliament, was detained by local police in the city of Karak as he tried to travel to the scene of the standoff at the Tochi River bridge.

Dawar had complained on March 26 that "instead of listening to the demands of the protesters, the state has chosen to block roads around the area to stop them from moving out if they choose to take their protest to Islamabad."

Meanwhile, in the city of Domail about 25 kilometers east of Bannu, hundreds of demonstrators threatened on March 28 to block the Indus Highway between Peshawar and the city of Dera Ismail Khan unless the protestors were allowed to proceed to Islamabad.

A government negotiating team has been meeting in recent days with protest leaders and tribal elders from Jani Khel, which is on the border of the former tribal region of North Waziristan.

The angry residents want a government guarantee that the Taliban and other militants would not be allowed to operate in the area any more. They are also demanding an investigation into a military official responsible for security in the area, and for that official to be transferred.

The government team has agreed to a demand for the families of the four slain teenagers to receive compensation funds from the government.

But protest leaders told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal on March 28 that the government team was unable to offer the security guarantees they are demanding.

Many of the demonstrators in the blocked protest caravan were part of a sit-in protest that began in Jani Khel on March 21 after the bullet-riddled corpses of four teenagers were discovered in a field.

Relatives said their bodies bore signs of torture when they were dug out of the ground after reportedly being found by a shepherd's dogs.

The boys – aged between 13 and 17 years old -- had disappeared three weeks earlier when they went out to hunt birds.

A local court in Karachi has directed the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against the organizers of the Islamabad Women’s March.

The court’s order comes a day after a local Peshawar court ordered the registration of an FIR against the organizers of the march for allegedly making insulting posters with degrading words.

Karachi Additional District and Sessions Judge South passed the order on an application to the Station House Officer (SHO) City Courts Police Station against Advocate GM Arain under Section 22A of the Pakistan Penal Code against the SHO of the same police station, who allegedly refused to grant application for an FIR against the organizers of the Aurtat march.

Section 22A gives the courts the power to make orders under Justice for Peace and may order the filing of an FIR for failure to register a case.

Petitioner said he and other members of the Karachi Bar Association watched the march on a TV channel that was being broadcast from the federal capital.

He said that during the march, inappropriate words were used against religious saints and their spouses and provocative slogans were chanted.

The petitioner added that obscene and anti-Islamic slogans were raised during the march.

He said that the members of Karachi Bar Association had passed a resolution condemning such measures in the name of women’s emancipation and women’s rights by the organizers and participants.

A local court in Peshawar ordered the registration of a first information report (FIR) on Thursday against organisers of this year's Aurat March in Islamabad for allegedly making "derogatory remarks" against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Hazrat Aisha and displaying "obscene posters".

Judge Syed Shaukatullah Shah passed the order on a petition filed by five lawyers — Ibrar Hussain, Israr Hussain, Kashif Ahmed Tarakai, Siyad Hussain, and Adnan Gohar.

The petition was filed under Section 22-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the court to act as 'Justice of Peace" and order the registration of an FIR against an offence in case of the police's failure to do so.

In their petition, the lawyers alleged that during the Aurat March 2021 which was held on March 8, "derogatory remarks were used in respect of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and Bibi Aisha beside display of un-Islamic and obscene posters on the instructions of organisers which hurt the feelings and sentiments of all Muslims including [them]."

They claimed they had watched the "derogatory and un-Islamic material" while they were on the court's premises in Peshawar and had later filed an application with the SHO East Cantt but he was "reluctant" to register an FIR.

The judge stated that the petitioner's arguments were heard and the record was examined. He directed the SHO East Cantt to "register FIR of the occurrence as reported by the petitioners under the relevant law".

Doctored videos Earlier this month, a video from the demonstration held in Karachi was doctored to falsely show participants raising blasphemous slogans and widely shared online.

The orga­ni­sers of Aurat March clarified that the participants of the march did not raise such slogans and their video was edited to defame their struggle.

People also mistook flags of the Women Democratic Front (WDF) at the Islamabad March for the French Tricolour after which the organisers issued a clarification.

After protests in the capital calling for registration of FIRs against organisers and participants of the Aurat March, Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri had said that "controversial material" shared on social media concerning the march was being investigated.

Aurat March has become an annual feature since 2018 and every year faces backlash from certain religio-political parties, who have been opposing the event.

The marches are organised in major cities to highlight issues facing women and condemning incidents of violence against them as well as gender discrimination, economic exploitation and misogyny.

Following this year's march on International Women’s Day, heated debates were once again seen on social media for and against the march.

Authorities have closed a key road outside a major population center in northwestern Pakistan after residents threatened to take their protest over the violent deaths of four teens to Islamabad.

Angry locals from the rural town of Jani Khel are in negotiations with local authorities to demand greater security guarantees and a thorough and credible investigation into the killings, which are at the center of a weeklong sit-in protest.

The residents said on March 26 that security forces placed heavy shipping containers on a local bridge, closing it to traffic.

The bridge links Jani Khel to the nearby city of Bannu, a major population center in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A lawmaker from a nearby area accused state authorities of blocking the road to keep the protest from spreading.

“Instead of listening to the demands of the protesters, the state has chosen to block roads around the area to stop them from moving out if they choose to take their protest to Islamabad,” lawmaker Mohsin Dawar, who represents North Waziristan, which borders Jani Khel, tweeted on March 26.

Many of those same residents began the sit-in on March 21 after the bullet-riddled corpses of four teenagers were discovered in a field some three weeks after they disappeared while hunting birds.

The bodies of the youngsters -- where were between 13 and 17 years old -- were reportedly dug out of the field after a shepherd's dogs found them.

The protesters' primary demand is a government guarantee that Taliban and other militants won't be allowed to operate in the area.

The protesters also want an official complaint filed against a specific security official posted to the town.

Police have already announced a murder investigation.

Mahmood Khan, the chief minister, the most senior elected official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, assured protesters on March 25 that the government will investigate.

“I want to promise you that we will hunt those criminals responsible for this heinous act,” he tweeted on March 25.

Authorities have also agreed to pay compensation to the families of the slain teens.

Media union leader Rana Muhammad Azeem, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), received a death threat after exposing a mafia gangster in a television appearance. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Pakistan affiliate to call for an urgent investigation into the threat.

Media union leader Rana Muhammad Azeem, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), received a death threat after exposing a mafia gangster in a television appearance. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Pakistan affiliate to call for an urgent investigation into the threat.

The PFUJ said on March 26 that its Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem received death- threat from a gangster after exposing mafia in a recent TV talk-show broadcastedon 92 News Channel. Earlier ,the Karachi-based Urdu newspaper had published the warrant notice against Rana Muhammad Azeem on February 28 leveling allegations of criminal conduct against the secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

The PFUJ said threats to working journalists had become more common in Pakistan despite repeated protests and activism by journalists. It also accused the Pakistan government of failing to provide security to the journalists.

The 31-year-old journalist received bullet injuries to the stomach, arm and knee as he waited in line for a barber shop on March 17 in Saleh Putt Sakhar, a town in interior Sindh province. According to the PFUJ, the assailants came by motorcycle and car and fled from the scene after the attack. The seriously injured journalist was rushed to Civil Hospital Sakhar for the treatment but died the next day on March 18.

According to police, an investigation team under the Deputy Superintendent of Police / Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Rohri, Hazoor Bux Solangi, was formed to investigate the case. Police also informed they were collecting evidence from the scene and recording statements from witnesses as part of the investigation.

Following the brutal murder of Lalwani, the journalist community in Pakistan held protests demanding the Pakistan government launch a probe on the case.

Lalwani was a vocal journalist and frequently raise issues of the Hindu minority in Pakistan. He also wrote critically that Pakistani Government policies were biased against minorities.

PFUJ Secretary General, Rana M Azeem, said: “Sindh government has failed to protect the journalists while the local police are not paying attention despite repeated requests. We demand the government to take action and arrest the killers otherwise a country wide protest will be launched.”

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger, said: “The IFJ urges the Pakistan government to carry out the impartial investigation into the murder of Ajay Lalwani.”

A court notice published in The Daily Jang newspaper on February 28 has levelled allegations of criminal conduct against the secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) express concern at attempts to silence the voice of the union leader.

The Karachi-based Urdu newspaper published the warrant notice against Rana Muhammad Azeem, which according to the daily newspaper was a paid notice by the court. The notice also detailed the personal address and telephone number of the leader.

The PFUJ strongly condemned the alleged registration of a case against its secretary general and urged the concerned authorities to look into the “allegedly false case made in an effort to silence the leaders’ voice for the rights of the media workers”. It also said that Rana Azeem had been tagged with some other renowned persons for criticism on the national media channel during a talk show.

The notice with the signature of second Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ashraf Hussain Khawaja, alleges that Rana Azeem committed a crime or is believed to commit a crime ‘punishable’ under Pakistan Penal Code yet fails to detail the alleged crime. The notice also refers to the leader as a guest and analyst of the television show “Kahra Sach”, which he has been a regular commentator on over several years.

Pakistani authorities have expelled the leader‏ of a civil rights movement campaigning for the country's ethnic Pashtun minority from the southwestern province of Balochistan after he attended a condolence ceremony for a slain political leader despite a ban on entering the region.

Activists of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) said Manzoor Pashteen and other PTM leaders traveled to the town of Chaman on March 1 and that security forces escorted them out of the province after he secretly attended the ceremony.

Asad Khan Achakzai, spokesman for the secular Awami National Party (ANP) in Balochistan, was laid to rest in Chaman the previous day amid province-wide protests by party supporters.

Achakzai's body was discovered on February 27 on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Quetta, five months after he went missing.

Police has said a member of the paramilitary forces had confessed to the kidnapping and guided the investigators to the place where the body was found.

In December, Balochistan’s government banned Pashteen from entering the province for a period of 90 days citing security reasons. The ban was later extended for an unspecified period.

The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live near the border of Afghanistan where the military has conducted campaigns it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban.

The movement has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and forced millions more to abandon their homes since 2003.

International rights groups say authorities have banned peaceful rallies organized by the PTM and some of its leading members have been arbitrarily detained and prevented from traveling within the country. Some members have also faced charges of sedition and cybercrimes.

In a brazen daylight attack, masked terrorists shot dead four women vocational trainers and injured their driver near Mirali in North Waziristan tribal district on Monday.

Police said a vehicle carrying five women was driving through a village near Mirali when the gunmen opened fire on it, killing four of them on the spot.

The slain trainers were identified as Naheed Bibi, Irshad Bibi, Ayesha Bibi and Javeria Bibi. They belonged to the nearby Bannu district. The driver of the vehicle, Abdul Khaliq, suffered bullet injuries in the attack. He is under treatment at a local hospital.

District Police Officer Shafiullah Gandapur issued a press release after the killing of the four women trainers, stating that the four were targeted and killed by terrorists in Eppi village near Mirali.

The police statement said that the driver suffered injuries in the attack while one woman trainer, Mariam Bibi, survived as she took shelter in the village. Bodies of the four women were taken to the tehsil headquarters hospital in Mirali town.

Earlier, police had said that the women were working for an NGO to give vocational training to local women in Eppi village.

Later, the DPO changed his statement and said that the women were working for a technical institute based in Bannu to develop vocational skills of the local women. He said that the NGO had signed a memorandum of understanding with the institute to give vocational training to women of the area.

The NGOs office in Peshawar said that the women killed in the attack were not affiliated with the organisation. An official of the NGO told Dawn that the four women were attached to a technical college in Bannu.

He said that the women trainers had proceeded from Bannu to Eppi village to give vocational training to the local women. He said that his organisation had been working on a project for skill development of the womenfolk of the area.

In September last year, some unidentified gunmen had killed a lady health worker in Khaisur area near Mirali. Mirali was the bastion of local and foreign insurgents before operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched in June 2014.

A police official said that on Sunday night gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Shewa area near Mirali and killed its driver named Wali Gul. The gunmen also kidnapped 10 people including six non-locals.

Unicef condemns attack

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund has expressed shock over the killing of the four women.

“UNICEF condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless attack on women and aid workers and joins the families in mourning this tragic loss of lives. The perpetrators must be brought to justice,” said Unicef Representative in Pakistan, Aida Girma.

“Unicef is saddened and shocked at the reported killing of four women who were reportedly staff members of Bravo College, Bannu, and they were travelling to North Waziristan, one of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s merged districts, earlier on Monday. Their driver was reportedly injured in the attack after unidentified assailants fired on their vehicle,” Unicef said in a statement issued in Islamabad.

On 1 February 2020, the Peshawar High Court dismissed human rights defender Idris Khattak's petition challenging the jurisdiction of the Field General Court-Martial on his case. The verdict means that the human rights defender’s trial, which was paused in the Military Court, will now resume. While Pakistan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the military courts have not met their obligations under ICCPR, with the right to a public hearing not guaranteed, the death penalty being handed out after unfair trials and the absence of right to appeal to civilian courts.

The human rights defender was forcibly disappeared on 13 November 2019. His whereabouts were not known until 17 June 2020, when the Joint Investigation Tribunal in Islamabad, tasked with inquiring into cases of enforced disappearance, informed the human rights defender’s family that he was being held by the Pakistan Military Intelligence and was being tried under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

On 2 February 2021, human rights defender Muhammad Ismail was arrested at the Anti-Terrorism Court-III in Peshawar, following the cancellation of his interim pre-arrest bail in a case lodged by the Counter-Terrorism Department. The First Information Report (FIR) brought against the defender charges him under Sections 11-N, 124-A, 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relate to sedition and criminal conspiracy, and 7(g)(i) of the Anti-terrorism Act of 1997. These charges carry heavy prison sentences. It is believed that Muhammad Ismail is currently in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department.

Muhammed Ismail is the Secretary-General of the Pakistan NGO Forum (PNF), an umbrella body of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Pakistan. He has been critical of human rights violations in the country, particularly the ill-treatment of his daughter, human rights defender Gulalai Ismail.

Muhammad Ismail has been the target of ongoing police and judicial harassment for over two years. The human rights defender’s prosecution is a reprisal for his work, and the human rights work of his daughter Gulalai Ismail – an outspoken critic of human rights abuses by Pakistani authorities. Gulalai Ismail was forced to flee Pakistan in September 2019 due to threats to her safety. Ever since, her family and colleagues in Pakistan have been targetted. Multiple FIRs have been filed against Muhammad Ismail and his wife Uzlifat Ismail, including on anti-terror charges. In October 2019 Muhammad Ismail was abducted by unidentified men from outside the Peshawar High Court. He was later found in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crimes Unit. Muhammad Ismail and his wife have been placed on an exit control list preventing them from leaving Pakistan.

Despite being released on bail in at least one case, authorities have continued to to target him. The State has consistently objected to bail and sought to file new charges against the defender in an attempt to further harass him, despite his ill health. Muhammad Ismail contracted COVID-19 in late 2020 and has not fully recovered. He requires constant care and medical supervision, neither of which will be available in an overcrowded jail.

Front Line Defenders, along with other human rights organisations, has previously condemned the targetting of Muhammad Ismail. Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Pakistan to immediately drop all charges and unconditionally release Muhammad Ismail, as it believes that the human rights defender is being targeted solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights. It urges the authorities to remove all restrictions on the free movement of Muhammad Ismail and his wife Uzlifat Ismail, and cease all further forms of harassment against the defender, as it is believed that these measures constitute a direct transgression of his rights.

Pakistani security forces have detained and forcibly expelled a prominent ethnic Pashtun rights activist, Sanna Ejaz, from the restive province of Balochistan.

Ejaz is a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a civil rights movement that has come under a growing government crackdown.

Video footage uploaded on social media showed security forces ushering Ejaz into a vehicle on January 17.

Moments before she was detained in the district of Zhob, Ejaz told RFE/RL that paramilitary forces notified her that she was barred from entering Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

“They are saying my presence could cause unrest,” she told RFE/RL.

Ejaz, a resident of the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said she had travelled to Balochistan to launch a library for women.

The library was established by Waak, a movement cofounded by Ejaz and dedicated to promoting women’s rights and education.

Police said the provincial government in November 2020 issued a notice banning PTM leaders, including Ejaz, from traveling to Balochistan for 90 days.

Balochistan is the scene of a separatist insurgency and a brutal state crackdown that has killed thousands of people since 2004.

Activists claim Pakistan’s powerful military has committed widespread abuses in Balochistan, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings of political activists and suspected separatists, arbitrary arrests, and torture. The province is home to a sizeable Pashtun community.

Ejaz was among several PTM leaders charged with making anti-state speeches during an unsanctioned rally in the port city of Karachi, in Sindh Province, on December 6, 2020.

Among them was Ali Wazir, a lawmaker and PTM leader, who was arrested on sedition charges over accusations he made anti-state comments during the rally.

Wazir remains in police custody. He is expected to be presented before an anti-terrorism court.

The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live near the border of Afghanistan where the military has conducted campaigns it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban.

The movement has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and forced millions more to abandon their homes since 2003.

International rights groups say authorities have banned peaceful rallies organized by the PTM and some of its leading members have been arbitrarily detained and prevented from traveling within the country. Some members have also faced charges of sedition and cybercrimes.

Pakistani authorities have rearrested a prominent ethnic Pashtun rights activist who is facing sedition charges almost a week after he was released on bail.

Police and the civil rights group say Said Alam Mahsud, a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was taken into custody in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan on January 18.

He was first arrested early this month in the city of Peshawar before being released on bail on January 13.

A PTM leader, Alamzeb Mehsud, said Mahsud had been charged with "sedition, making anti-state comments, and addressing unsanctioned rallies" in two cases registered in 2019.

Mahsud’s arrest comes a day after another PTM leader, Sanna Ejaz, was detained and forcibly expelled from the southwestern province of Balochistan, amid a growing government crackdown on the movement.

The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live near the border with Afghanistan where the military has conducted campaigns that it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban.

The movement has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and forced millions more to abandon their homes since 2003.

International rights groups say authorities have banned peaceful rallies organized by the PTM and some of its leading members have been arbitrarily detained and prevented from traveling within the country.

Some members have also faced charges of sedition and cybercrimes.

Thousands of Pakistani Internet users have called for boycotts of these two Urdu-language services and have threatened their journalists in the course of a two-week-old hate and defamation campaign.

A video posted on 2 January on Siasat.pk, a news and discussion site that supports Pakistan’s ruling party and armed forces, attacks the “personal opinions and political inclinations” of BBC Urdu’s journalists. Shared by thousands of people on Twitter, it also accuses the BBC of pursuing an editorial policy that is “against the army and the government.”

The surnames, first names, jobs and Twitter account details of ten BBC Urdu journalists were posted online at the same time as the video. Analysis of the comments indicates that this campaign is being orchestrated in reprisal for several editorials and op-ed pieces regarded as overly critical of the authorities.

“Surprise”

One of the 10 journalists attacked in the video is Asma Shirazi, who received the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism in 2014. “I’m told to be less critical,” she told RSF. “This is not the first time I’ve received such threats. I’m being bombarded because of my opinions. This online vilification is part of a grand design to silence professional and independent journalists.”

Shirazi said she had received threatening calls. By way of a threat, one caller told her that she could “get surprise” if she did not stop writing critical op-ed pieces for BBC Urdu. “I don’t know what surprise they could give me,” she said. ”One surprise might be the discovery of drugs or explosives in my car during a roadside search.”

Threats were also made against Pakistani journalists working for The Independent in late December after its Urdu website posted a story about the deaths of four Pakistani soldiers in a helicopter crash. They were criticized for not referring to the dead soldiers as “martyrs” – the term that the Pakistani armed forces try to impose in such cases.

When reached by RSF, the editor of The Independent’s Urdu-language news site confirmed that his staff were concerned about this hate campaign. Thousands of Internet users have been calling for the site to be banned using the #BoycottIndyUrdu hashtag.

“Extremely dangerous”

“These online hate campaigns, orchestrated by trolls at the military high command’s behest, not only threaten press freedom but are also extremely dangerous for the journalists who are the targets of the death threats,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“Calling for journalists to be murdered, with the aim of intimidating and silencing anyone critical of the authorities, is completely unacceptable. We urge the federal government to disown such calls, and we ask the prosecutor’s office to initiate proceedings against all those responsible for these threats.”

RSF accused the Pakistani authorities of complicity by failing to take action to stop the online harassment of outspoken women journalists in August 2020, when the harassment was condemned by a women journalists collective.

Pakistan is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Pakistani police have arrested another member of a civil rights movement campaigning for the country's ethnic Pashtun minority amid an apparent crackdown on the group.

A member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) told RFE/RL that Muhammad Sher Mehsud was taken away late on December 20 when officers raided his house in the port city of Karachi.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the arrest but could not provide details about the charges against Mehsud, who was one of the organizers of an unsanctioned rally in Karachi on December 6.

The day after the gathering, police filed a case against as many as 19 PTM members, including a lawmaker and leader of the movement, Ali Wazir, who faces sedition charges over accusations he made anti-state comments during the Karachi rally.

Wazir is to remain in police custody until December 30 when he will be presented before an anti-terrorism court.

His family have said his life is in danger in custody, a claim that the police officials reject.

Police on December 18 arrested another PTM leader, Noorullah Tareen, hours after thousands of supporters of the rights’ group protested in a dozen cities and towns of Pakistan against Wazir’s arrest.

The PTM, which has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics in its fight against the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups in the country's northwest.

International rights groups say Pakistani authorities have banned peaceful rallies organized by the PTM and some of its leading members have been arbitrarily detained and prevented from traveling within the country. Some members have also faced charges of sedition and cybercrimes.

Ali Wazir, a lawmaker and leader of a civil rights movement campaigning for Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun minority, has appeared before a judge following his arrest in the northwestern city of Peshawar on anti-state charges.

Another leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), Said Alam Mehsud, told RFE/RL on December 17 that the judge granted a request by Wazir’s lawyers to let their client fly to the port city of Karachi, where he is facing charges.

It was not immediately clear when Wazir would be taken to Karachi.

Earlier, police officials in Karachi told RFE/RL that Wazir, PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen, and two other leaders of the movement, lawmaker Mohsin Dawar and Sanna Ejaz, had been charged with making anti-state speeches during an unsanctioned rally in the city on December 6.

Wazir was arrested in Peshawar on December 16 after he attended a gathering marking the sixth anniversary of the massacre of more than 150 people at a Peshawar school in December 2014.

It was not immediately clear why police had not arrested the other PTM leaders accused in the case.

Under Pakistani law, lawmakers are immune from arrest until the National Assembly speaker or the Senate chairman approves it.

Police officials in Karachi told RFE/RL that Wazir’s arrest was sanctioned by the lower house’s speaker, Asad Qaisar, who has not commented on the matter.

The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live near the border of Afghanistan where the military has conducted campaigns it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban.

The movement has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and forced millions more to abandon their homes since 2003.

International rights groups say authorities have banned peaceful rallies organized by the PTM and some of its leading members have been arbitrarily detained and prevented from traveling within the country. Some members have also faced charges of sedition and cybercrimes.

Another prominent ethnic Pashtun rights activist, Said Alam Mahsud, has been arrested in Pakistan on charges of making “anti-state” and “anti-military” comments.

Sanna Ejaz, a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), told RFE/RL that Mahsud appeared before a court in Peshawar on January 4 where a judge ordered him remanded in custody for four days.

Mahsud was arrested at his home in the northwestern city late on January 3 after he attended a protest earlier in the day demanding the release of other PTM leaders and activists from custody.

In a video widely circulated on Facebook and Twitter, Mahsud is seen greeting the policemen in Pashto and then asking, “Am I being arrested?” After a policeman says “yes,” he responds “no problem” in English and then accompanies them.

PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen called Mahsud’s arrest an “extremely oppressive” act while Mohsin Dawar, a lawmaker and PTM leader, denounced what he called an “undeclared crackdown" against the group.

PTM activists staged demonstrations on January 3 in several cities and towns in Pakistan, demanding the release of recently arrested leaders and members of the PTM, which has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns.

Ali Wazir, a lawmaker and PTM leader, has been arrested on sedition charges over accusations he made anti-state comments during an unsanctioned rally in Karachi on December 6.

His arrest triggered mass protests in dozens of cities and towns across Pakistan on December 18. After the protests, two other PTM members were arrested in Karachi.

The PTM has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army's heavy-handed tactics in its fight against the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups in the country's northwest.

Activist Ammar Ali Jan on Friday narrowly escaped arrest from Lahore's Charing Cross, where he was attending a student protest.

The activist had left the protest venue along with his friends in a car which was followed by a police van. Jan's vehicle was stopped by law enforcement officials at Gulberg Main Boulevard, from where he was taken to a police check post.

Following negotiations with policemen, Jan and his friends were allowed to leave with the assurance that they would appear before the station house officer of the Civil Lines police station within two hours.

In a statement to Dawn, however, Jan said that his lawyer would appear on his behalf and the activist will approach the court for pre-arrest bail on Monday.

Jan's arrest orders were issued by the Lahore deputy commissioner on Thursday under Section 3 (power to arrest and detain suspected persons) of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. According to the order, Jan was a "potential danger to public peace, law and order situation" and must be detained "in order to keep the law and order situation in the city". Under the charge, the activist would remain under arrest for 30 days.

"There is credible information that [Jan], along with his accomplices, will create law and order situation and cause harassment among the general public," the order read. Jan was the only person whose arrest orders were issued.

The Lahore-based academic was attending a protest, which was being held to highlight the issues being faced by students in Pakistan. Every year, students and activists come together to arrange a Student Solidarity March across the country, however, this year a protest was held due to Covid-19.