Assignment: Pakistan - journalists under fire
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Journalists in Pakistan say they’re under threat of abduction and even of being killed if they criticise the state authorities. Whoever is in power, legal action against journalists who’ve spoken out against the authorities is nothing new. Press freedom campaigners say that in 12 months 140 journalists were threatened or attacked with some saying that democracy itself is under attack. For Assignment Mobeen Azhar hears the allegations made by those who say they’ve been targeted to shut them up - allegations which the authorities deny.
Archive: AAJ News, May 2023 GNN, February 2023, Naya Daur February 2022, GEO TV October 2022
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.6 | I'm Mobeina Tsar. |
| 0:05.0 | And for assignment, I'm reporting from Pakistan |
| 0:07.8 | where journalism is under fire. |
| 0:10.1 | Journalists say they're being assaulted. He immediately took out the magazine of his pistol. |
| 0:19.0 | Then he started hitting on my elbows with the magazine. It was like I never had such pain in my life. |
| 0:26.0 | Abducted. |
| 0:27.0 | What do you know about the people that took you? |
| 0:29.0 | Everyone knows everything in Pakistan. |
| 0:32.0 | And killed just for doing their job. |
| 0:35.0 | I think they have stopped him. They have recognized him and then they shoot him. |
| 0:40.0 | Press freedom campaigners say that in 12 months 140 journalists were threatened or attacked, with some claiming |
| 0:48.4 | that democracy itself is under fire. |
| 0:52.0 | Whoever's in power, legal action against journalists in |
| 0:55.1 | Pakistan is not a new thing. According to the annual World Press Freedom Index |
| 0:59.9 | published by Reporters Without Borders, Pakistan currently ranks at number 150 out of 180 countries. |
| 1:08.0 | I've been hearing from those who say they've been attacked in an effort to silence them. |
| 1:14.0 | In May 2023, Imran Riaz, one of Pakistan's best known journalists with millions of followers online was |
| 1:25.0 | arrested at Seattle Court Airport as he tried to leave the country. |
| 1:30.3 | I have been here to think it's a happy in Iran rheas to hear us The arrest made national headlines and quickly many |
| 1:35.0 | the arrest made national headlines and quickly many people drew conclusions |
| 1:40.0 | about why it happened. |
... |
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