Violence and impunity in Sukkur – Justice for slain senior journalist

Dr Abdul Waheed Mastoi
SUKKUR: Jan Muhammad mahar murder is a challenge for all Pakistani journalists. “This case is causing an impact here, where it is seen as a classic example of how one can be denied justice in Pakistan. We regard it as a collective failure on the part of our society, which has proved unable to get justice done for his bereaved family.”
“Mahar’s brutal murder speaks to the complete absence of security in the working lives of journalists in Pakistan, to the way they must constantly endure contempt, threats, and violence
In Pakistan, killers of journalists operate with full impunity as in 96 percent cases, the criminal justice system has failed to deliver justice for the slain journalists. Sindh has turned out to be the most dangerous place for media professionals followed by Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“This open-ended impunity for crimes against journalists and media in Pakistan is taking an ugliest shape and latest killing of under-threat journalist Jan Muhammad mahar reminds us how stronger perpetrators of crime and press freedom predators are getting,”
“Due to poor investigation, the police fail to produce challans in many cases, killing the chances of justice at an early stage of the legal system” and “due to the poor quality of prosecution, most cases never complete the trial process in the courts”.
On average, around five media practitioners lost their lives each year during the period under question. Print media is the worst hit as 31 slain journalists were affiliated with newspapers, 23 with electronic media, four with digital media and two with radio.
Sindh has come under spotlight as the deadliest province with 30 percent of the total fatalities as every third journalist killed from 2012 to 2022 belonged to this province.
The killers of almost a third of the murdered journalists remain unidentified. Around two-thirds of the journalists were targeted by non-state actors such as militant groups, criminal gangs, local influential and functionaries of political parties.
Jan Muhammad mahar will go down in Pakistan’s history as one of the journalists to be murdered because of his work.
“We call on Pakistan’s highest judicial authorities to address the shocking impunity that marks this case, and we condemn the archaic practices that will lead to more journalists being murdered in Pakistan if nothing changes.”