Titbits of the region’s media

Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse, has publicly stated his support for media censorship, the criminalisation of defamation and the prosecution of two media institutions for "critical reportage". Secretary Rajapakse (the president's brother) need not have bothered – in the week following his statement, two journalists who had been receiving death threats were knifed. One of the victims, a news producer at the state-controlled television broadcaster SLRC, had protested the recent storming of the station by Sri Lankan Labour Minister Mervyn Silva. The death threats and knifing are believed to be retaliation for the protests. With the harassment, assault, and murder of journalists becoming the norm in Sri Lanka, perhaps the criminalisation of defamation is a good idea – that way, at least journalists would just get a safe jail cell.

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Over in Bangladesh, the interim government is past the point of simply contemplation censorship. In late May last year, journalist Tasneem Khalil, who was arrested at gunpoint from his apartment in Dhaka in the presence of his wife and son, was taken to a detention centre operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), a military intelligence agency. Khalil recently revealed that, for 22 hours, he was repeatedly kicked, beaten with batons, and threatened with execution in a cell specially designed for torture. Apparently, his assailants were enraged by his report for Human Rights Watch on extrajudicial killings by the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Khalil has since fled Bangladesh and sought asylum in Sweden. Chhetria Patrakar has it on good authority that Dhaka's detention and torture apparatuses, including the location of the DGFI detention centre, is well known to locals, international donors and the diplomatic community – all of whom are turning a blind eye to cases such as Khalil's. 

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Elections in Pakistan, while undoubtedly good for the nation, were a difficult time for journalists and media institutions. In the week before the polls, five journalists were injured in a bomb blast at a news conference organised by an independent candidate in the Khuzdar District of Balochistan. Many journalists, especially in rural areas, reported that they had been threatened by police, had their equipment confiscated and prevented from covering protest rallies. In the run-up to the elections, live broadcasts – including talk shows, call-ins and coverage of protests and election rallies – were prohibited. Private television and radio stations were likewise heavily censored, whereas reporting by the state-controlled PTV was selective and decidedly pro-Pervez Musharraf. Considering the regime's heavy-handed tactics, CP cannot help but be gleeful about the dismal electoral performance of the PML (Q), the (former) king's party. It appears that Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif have picked up on the moral of this story, with both saying that the restoration of media freedom is a key objective. Zardari has even said he will remove the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (PEMRA) ordinance currently in place.

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And, if confirmation was needed about the strong-arm tactics used by the Pakistani government, the Hoot, a Southasian media watchdog group, in collaboration with Panos South Asia, has come out with a three-year mapping of media oppression in the country. According to the report, the state was the biggest perpetrator of atrocities against the media, over fundamentalist and other groups. Media oppression was most extensive in Sindh, the NWFP and Punjab, with repressive diktats originating in Islamabad. In 2005, there were 48 such incidents against the media were recorded, with state agencies responsible for 32. In 2007, the total number went up to 92, 54 traceable to state agencies. 

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Jawed Ahmad, also know as Jojo Yazemi, a journalist with Canadian Television (CTV) has been detained at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan by US military forces since late October. The US military has not charged Ahmad with any crime, despite the fact that he has been held now for more than three months. Ahmad was last able to communicate with his brother, Siddique Ahmad, in late January, through a link set up by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ahmad told Siddique that he was being held because US forces believe him to have contacts with local Taliban leaders. Lietenant-Colonel Mark Wright, at the US Department of Defence, responded to an e-mail from the Committee to Project Journalists, saying he had only recently heard of Ahmad's case and would investigate further. There has been no follow-up information. 

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Southasian readers will be forgiven for not realising that 8 March 2008 was a truly historic day. One hundred years ago, on 8 March 1908, women working in the needle-trade industry took to the streets of New York City demanding better working conditions, higher wages, shorter workdays and the overall improvement of the lives of working immigrant women in the US. The day soon began to be observed worldwide as International Women's Day – a symbolic rallying cry to improve the economic, political and social status of women. But, apparently, so attractive has the notion of a 'women's day' become, that corporations – from Ponds to Whirlpool to Nokia – have lost no time in 'celebrating' womanhood by offering heavy discounts in March on all kinds of products, from fairness creams to washing machines to cell phones. Such largesse should certainly upgrade the status of women in the region! 

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CP is happy to report some potentially good news from Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has assured a group of Afghan journalists that they have no reason to worry about Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, the journalist summarily sentenced to death for insulting Islam. A member of a delegation from the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association, which briefed Karzai on the case, said the president had given them hope that Kambakhsh would be soon released. However, an official spokesman made it seem less black-and-white, saying that while Karzai was indeed concerned about the case, he would allow the courts to do their work. Kambakhsh is currently being detained in the Mazar-i-Sharif prison. 

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Incidences of journalists being attacked by roving mobs appear to be on the rise in Nepal. For instance, the office of Narayani Today, a newspaper based in Birgunj, in central Nepal, was recently attacked by a mob shouting, "This newspaper said those killed were criminals – which is a lie!" The protesters were referring to the newspaper's coverage of the killing of three people, allegedly members of a criminal gang, by the police. The paper has since suspended publication due to damages to the premises sustained during the attack. In another incident, also in Birgunj, an unidentified group hurled a bomb at the office of Indreni FM, a radio station. Fortunately, no one was injured. Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, at least 11 journalists were assaulted and eight vehicles used by journalists were vandalised by demonstrators during large protests against an increase in fuel prices. CP is unsure as to whether the authorities are threatened by the competition or simply grateful for the reduced workload. 

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The Burmese junta, as always, is retaining a deathlike grip on the country's media. According to an annual report released by Reporters without Borders, working conditions for journalists in Burma have worsened considerably since the protests of last August and September. In a systematic effort to keep information from the public, the junta has raised the cost of a satellite dish from USD 5 to 800, blocked Internet access, restricted the use of mobile phones, and pulled foreign magazines from the stands. These measures, of course, only supplement draconian censorship laws, as well as the regular harassment and imprisonment of journalists. The report states there are currently nine journalists in detention, including 77-year old Win Tin, who has been in jail since 1989. Two more journalists, Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung, both of the weekly Myanmar Nation, have been arrested since the report came out. If this trend continues, Burma's media may need to start operating from inside the jails.