‘If you scream no one will hear you’: Pakistani journalists report in fear amid spike in media killings

Hope for justice in journalist murders is dim across the world, but especially in Pakistan, which has appeared on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index every year since the list’s inception in 2008. This year, the South Asian country ranks twelfth out of the 13 worst offenders.

CPJ’s impunity index lists countries where perpetrators who kill journalists for their work, an act which CPJ defines as “murder,” evade justice. At least 39 journalists have been murdered in Pakistan since 1992, when CPJ first began tracking journalist killings; in the vast majority of these cases, 36, nobody has been held accountable; in three cases, there has been some, though not full, accountability.

A recent spike in killings has made justice seem even more elusive. This has been an especially dangerous year for the press in Pakistan, with at least six journalists killed in direct or suspected relation to their work. CPJ confirmed two murders were linked to journalism and continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the four other killings. (Journalist and police sources confirmed that three additional Pakistani journalist killings in 2024 were related to personal disputes.)

CPJ spoke with 10 Pakistani journalists and press freedom experts about the recent killings and how to pursue accountability for attacks on the media. Their answers provide a stark picture of Pakistan’s consistently deadly environment for the press.

What’s behind the recent spate of journalist killings in Pakistan

The six journalists were killed in three different provinces in Pakistan this year, amid rising political unrest and surging media censorship following the 2022 ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Over the past few years, the overall law and order situation has worsened, and crimes against journalists have been on the rise,” said Adil Jawad, who investigates journalist killings in Pakistan as part of the “A Safer World for the Truth” initiative, of which CPJ is a member.

Northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where journalists Kamran Dawar and Khalil Jibran were killed following threats by militants this year, has long been a dangerous place for the press. During the U.S.-led War on Terror, Pakistani and U.S. military forces battled militant groups while committing grave human rights abuses. Violence against the local press has intensified since the 2021 Taliban takeover of neighboring Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal.

In southwest Baluchistan province, a decades-long separatist insurgency has been met with a brutal government crackdown. Members of the media are caught between threats from government agencies, state-backed militias, and militant separatists, according to Shahzada Zulfiqar, bureau chief for BOL News broadcaster in Baluchistan’s capital Quetta. Journalists Muhammad Siddique Mengal and Nisar Lehri were killed in separate attacks in the province this year.

Sindh province, in the southeast, has less militant activity, but it has not been immune to violence against the press. Two journalists were killed in the province’s Ghotki district in 2024; the family of Nasrullah Gadani allege he was killed at the order of a lawmaker with the locally influential Pakistan People’s Party, and Muhammad Bachal Ghunio was killed after he posted on social media.

CPJ called and sent messages to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapurand Baluchistan police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari requesting comment on their response to journalist killings, but did not receive any replies. Sindh police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told CPJ that “police have taken prompt and transparent action” in response to attacks against journalists.

Why impunity persists in so many journalist murders

Members of the Pakistani media have little faith that they will ever see justice for journalist killings. It’s been nearly 20 years since Hayatullah Khan was abducted in 2005 in North Waziristan, now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and later murdered after he reported on an apparent U.S. missile attack that killed a senior Al-Qaeda figure, contradicting the Pakistani government’s explanation. The murder is still unsolved.

The lack of progress in Khan’s case have given journalists in the province little reason to believe authorities will solve the 2024 killings of Dawar or Jibran. Like Khan, Dawar was murdered in retaliation for his reporting in North Waziristan; CPJ continues to investigate the circumstances of Jibran’s fatal shooting, which occurred in another part of the province.

A security vacuum in the province exacerbates impunity. Umar Daraz Wazir, a North Waziristan-based correspondent for the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcaster who knew Khan and Dawar, said he has faced death threats for his coverage of militant violence and political leaders. He was also abducted by Pakistan’s intelligence forces in 2015. Wazir said police are often nowhere to be found near the Afghan border.

“If you scream, no one will hear you,” Wazir told CPJ. “Who should we request security from?”

Nationwide, improper evidence collection and maintenance and limited resources contribute to ineffective investigations of journalist killings, according to Hussain Dada, who also reports for “A Safer World for the Truth.” Dada said that authorities rarely review journalistic bodies of work to determine motive.

Corruption also plagues investigations into journalist killings. “In the Pakistani context, a murder investigation often depends on the will of political powers or the provincial government, which is directly responsible for appointing police officers and investigators,” said Jawad. “We’ve seen a trend where local politicians influence investigations into journalist killings, as they have a say in the appointment of police officers in their respective districts.”

Politicians are regularly accused of threatening journalists who report on corruption and government misconduct. However, political parties are reluctant to take action “as they are in survival mode and cannot afford to lose their allies,” Jawad said.

Imdad Soomro, an investigative journalist in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, pointed to a “nexus between politicians, police officers, and the bureaucracy” that has prevented authorities from pursuing accountability for attacks on the media.

Mechanisms exist to remedy impunity, but they are largely ineffective

In Pakistan, efforts to protect the press through legislation have historically fallen flat. The country’s parliament passed a 2021 law mandating a national journalist protection commission, but it has not yet been established. Federal information minister Attaullah Tarar told journalists in June that the commission would be set up, but did not respond to CPJ’s calls and messages requesting comment on the status.

Sana Ali, director of the local press freedom group Pakistan Press Foundation, called the lack of implementation “unconscionable.” “It is incumbent on the government to set up the commission immediately without further delays,” Ali said, adding that authorities’ promises “must go beyond lip service.”

A Sindh journalist protection commission was created in 2022, following the passage of 2021 provincial law. The commission was empowered to order investigations into attacks on journalists, but its work was hampered this year when the chair resigned. Mazhar Abbas, a senior analyst for Geo News, said the commission, even when it was functioning, was “ineffective because of its limited powers.” He told CPJ that the commission had no recourse if authorities failed to comply with its orders. Meanwhile, similar legislation to create a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa journalist protection commission is pending introduction in the provincial assembly.

Journalists, hungry for change, are coming up with their own solutions. The organization Safe Journalism aims to increase the conviction rate for Pakistani journalist killings by independently monitoring investigations and providing expert input to authorities.

“We are working on forming joint action committees with the authorities so that these cases are properly investigated and not forgotten or ignored,” said Mehmal Sarfraz, one of the founders. “We want justice for all slain Pakistani journalists, and we also want to ensure their safety so that such crimes do not take place in the future.”

Munizae Jahangir, an anchor for Aaj TV and chief editor of the digital media platform Voicepk.net, told CPJ that Pakistan’s journalist bodies, such as press clubs, must form a united front to challenge impunity. The country’s journalists — like society writ large — are often divided on political and religious lines, and on their relationships to Pakistan’s powerful military.

“The media has been very resilient and has had a long struggle for democracy but in the recent past, the journalist bodies have been divided and therefore the resistance has not been organized,” Jahangir said.

Several journalists told CPJ that slain reporters’ relatives also require greater support to pursue accountability. Police, local administrations, and powerful actors, including feudal lords and tribal chiefs, often pressure these relatives, particularly those from rural areas, to abandon efforts towards justice. In some cases, families are paid in exchange for silence.

Newsrooms’ protections for reporters fall short, while journalists band together

Several journalists told CPJ that despite the recent killings, newsrooms haven’t changed security protocols. Safety training is not the norm, and journalists and freelancers outside of urban areas are often left to fend for themselves amid increased risks due to militant activity and organized crime.

Some small town journalists post one-sided reports on social media, which are widely circulated on WhatsApp and inevitably draw the attention of authorities and militants. “They end up challenging the status quo, the people in power,” a dynamic that leaves them vulnerable to violence, said Dada.

Gohar Ali, a provincial coordinator for the local rights group Freedom Network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said many news organizations compel their staff to cover dangerous places and situations, including the aftermath of militant blasts when there’s a risk of another strike. “If they do not obey the order, they can lose their job,” he said.

BOL News’ Zulfiqar said that “few newsrooms take precautionary measures for the protection of their journalists, while majority expect, rather put pressure on, their reporters to get exclusive reports and footages by putting their lives in danger.”

Some journalist bodies, meanwhile, are making changes due to security threats. Following recent killings, particularly in explosions, members of the Quetta Press Club and Baluchistan’s Union of Journalists adopted new safety measures, including gathering at their respective headquarters before moving together to blast sites with police instructions, Zulfiqar said.

Wazir, the journalist in North Waziristan, said that in spite of the challenges, he is motivated to continue reporting, particularly from areas where there is a “low flow of information.” “I want to give voice to the voiceless people, to share information, to highlight the basic issues of locals deprived over decades.”