Silenced Once Again

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Action for Freedom — 2 Comments

Syed Saleem Shahzad has joined the unacceptably long list of over 70 journalists who have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan since 2000. -Reuters Photo

Murder is the severest form of censorship and a brave Pakistani journalist has just offered proof with his life. Syed Saleem Shahzad has joined the unacceptably long list of over 70 journalists who have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan since 2000. How has Pakistan become the most dangerous country to practice journalism?

By Adnan Rehmat | DAWN.COM

Fundamentalism, extremism and militancy have brutalised Pakistani society since proxies that Pakistan has nurtured for two decades took on America in Afghanistan in the early part of the last decade.

As the conflict between the US and al Qaeda spilled over from Afghanistan into Pakistan, the need for reporting it grew enormously as did the attendant risks of doing so.

As fate would have it, the evolution of Pakistan’s independent broadcast media coincided with the rise of terrorism in the country as did the expansion of the al Qaeda-US fight and the co-option of Pakistan-based militants into this battle…

…Read more from DAWN.com…