CPJ urges Zardari to stop growing attacks on Pakistani journalists

NEW YORK - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to address increasing attacks on journalists in his country.

“Pakistan’s foundering security situation affects everyone in his country, but journalists’ deaths are particularly egregious,” The Nation quoted Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Programme Coordinator, as saying in a statement.

“Un-investigated, un-prosecuted attacks on journalists undermine the country’s tradition of a free press. It is an issue that needs attention from the highest levels of the Government in Pakistan,” Dietz added.

A statement issued by Masood Haider, Coordinator of the New York-based Coalition of Pakistani Journalists in USA, also called on Zardari to step up protection of working journalists in Pakistan.

“We are outraged at the unending murders of working journalists in Pakistan. The Government of President Asif Ali Zardari has utterly failed - as it has on other fronts - in its duty to protect the lives of its citizens, especially journalists. We call on him to provide protection to the journalists who are engaged in their professional work,” said the statement.

According to CPJ data, Pakistan was the deadliest country in the world in 2010. At least eight journalists were killed on the job, six in suicide bombings or militant strikes, and two in targeted assassinations.

The country ranks tenth on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and killers go free. At least 12 journalist murders have gone unsolved over the past decade. (ANI)