ISLAMABAD , May 2: There's been good news and there's been bad news this year (May 3, 2005 to May 2, 2006) for the media in Pakistan . The good news is that the impetus of expansion in media space has kept up from the previous three years – particularly in the radio and TV sectors where more licenses have been issued to private media – but the bad news is that so has the momentum of coercion, violence and intimidation against media.

This has been stated in an annual report outlining the state of media in Pakistan for the year 2005-06 launched here Tuesday by Internews Pakistan, a non-governmental media development organization to mark May 3, the World Press Freedom Day.

Titled “Media in Pakistan: The Year of Report Dangerously,” the report says making bad news worse is the fact that there has been a dramatic increase in the level of violence and intimidation against journalists and media organizations this year.

“The government authorities and functionaries emerged as media's greatest adversary being involved in arresting dozens of journalists and attacking and beating up hundreds besides banning publications, media reports on electronic media, TV channels and Internet websites, shutting down radio stations, raiding presses, instituting cases against journalists, restricting media from going about their duties including aggressively keeping journalists out of large swathes of territories, particularly the tribal areas in the northwest bordering Afghanistan,” the report claims.

According to the report's authors Adnan Rehmat and Matiullah Jan, the chronicles of violations against media freedoms in Pakistan this year make for grim reading: at least three journalists killed; two abducted; 206 attacked, beaten, tortured and shot at; 65 arrested; four jailed; five threatened; 19 publications, 32 TV channels and 16 websites banned; 13 newspaper presses raided; one FM station sealed; 12 journalists and media organizations slapped with court cases; 21 prevented from covering official functions and seven newspapers denied state-sponsored advertising from public funds for being critical of government policies – making all this one of the worst years of journalism in Pakistan in recent years. In terms of sheer numbers, the contrast with the last year (May 3, 2004 to May 2, 2005) is striking: last year two were killed, this year three; last year 120 were attacked while this year 206 were.

“Overall, the range of intimidation of media has varied from attacks at the office, in the field and even at home. Identified intimidators have included the government, military, police, intelligence agencies, religious groups, politicians, landlords, etc. In some cases it is unclear who the attackers have been. Not a single person has been prosecuted for the intimidation of journalists. The targets of the media intimidation expanded from last year's list of newspapers, journalists, freelancers, television stations and independent radio this year to cable service operators and Internet websites,” says the report, which has been released in full on www.internews.org.pk.

According to the report, of the three journalists killed, two died in the tribal areas; one got caught in crossfire between two private warring tribes and the other was gunned down by unknown assailants. The third was killed in a family dispute in Lalamusa, Punjab ,”

Of the two journalists abducted, one disappeared from the tribal areas after filing reports contradicting official versions of the bombing of a private home in which a senior Al Qaeda leader was suspected of being killed. The other went missing as soon as he arrived at the Karachi airport in connection with the launch of a regional TV channel in Balochistan.

Of the 206 journalists attacked, 200 were baton charged by the police in Lahore as they tried to march for better wages and working conditions, one was shot at, but survived, in the tribal areas by unknown assailants, the houses of two were bombed in Gilgit and South Waziristan, one was tortured by the staff of military subsidiary National Logistics Cell in Faisalabad for taking pictures of them thrashing someone, one was beaten up by police on the behest of a local landlord in Nawabshah for reporting his excesses and one was beaten up by police as he took pictures of a takeover of state land by a private mafia. All of the above violations, it is clear, were committed by state functionaries. Then there was an unprovoked attack on the Peshawar Press Club by students and teachers of a school while the militants bombed a state-run FM radio station in the tribal areas apparently in retaliation to a similar attack on an illegal FM station.

Of the 65 journalists arrested, 50 were picked up after being thrashed by the police in Islamabad as they gathered to demonstrate for better wages and working conditions, one was arrested in Lahore for angering a local politico with his expose, four were nabbed for publishing material in their Islamist periodicals allegedly inimical to sectarian peace, one was arrested for reportedly being critical of the policies of the Sindh chief minister, four were detained for reporting on clashes between the Pakistani forces and militants in the tribal areas, one was arrested for taking pictures of two slain Chinese engineers in Hub in Balochistan and one was picked up for reporting sacking of artistes by a paramilitary force in Gilgit. Apart from this at least 30 newspaper vendors were also arrested by the Sindh administration for selling banned Islamist publications. Again, the vast majority of these arrests were a result of the authorities or government functionaries falling foul of media reports.