Nadia Mirza is a well-known journalist in Pakistan. But her high-profile status is no protection from online trolls who threaten her and target her appearance and competence. Analysts say the treatment of women in media is a global issue. For Tabinda Naeem, Elizabeth Cherneff has the story for VOA News.
…
Month: September 2024
As election for IOC president looms, what is the job and who are the 7 candidates?
geneva — Seven candidates are competing for one of the biggest and best jobs in world sports that traditionally becomes available only every 12 years.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday which of its members in a most exclusive and discreet club have entered the race to be its next president. The election by secret ballot is in March.
The winner will replace Thomas Bach, a German lawyer who steps down in June upon reaching the maximum 12 years in office.
The 10th IOC president could be its first female leader, or its first from Africa or Asia. Or even its first from Britain.
They will take over a financially stable organization that demands deft skills in the challenging arenas of sports and real-world politics.
Who are the candidates?
- Prince Feisal al Hussein, an IOC member since 2010, on its executive board since 2019. Founder of the Generations for Peace sports charity. His older brother is King Abdullah II of Jordan.
-
Sebastian Coe, IOC member since 2020. President of World Athletics since 2015. Olympic champion in men’s 1,500 meters in 1980 and 1984. Elected lawmaker in British Parliament from 1992 to 1997. Led the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee.
-
Kirsty Coventry, IOC member since 2013, on executive board for a second time since 2023. Olympic champion in women’s 200-meter backstroke in 2004 and 2008. Appointed sports minister in Zimbabwe government since 2018. Chairs IOC panel overseeing the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
-
Johan Eliasch, IOC member since August. President of International Ski and Snowboard Federation since 2021. Owner of Head sports equipment brand, CEO until 2021. Swedish-British citizen.
-
David Lappartient, IOC member since 2022. President of International Cycling Union since 2017. President of France’s Olympic committee and leader of French Alps bid that will host 2030 Winter Games. Chair of IOC esports panel that steered the Esports Olympic Games to Saudi Arabia.
-
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., IOC member since 2001, vice president since 2022, and member of the executive board from 2012 to 2020. Founder of a Spain-based investment bank. Created Samaranch Foundation to promote the Olympics in China in honor of his father, who was IOC president from 1980 to 2001.
-
Morinari Watanabe, IOC member since 2018. Japanese president of the International Gymnastics Federation since 2017.
When is the election and who votes?
The IOC election meeting is on March 18-21 at a resort hotel in Greece, near the site of Ancient Olympia.
Candidates and their compatriots cannot vote, leaving about 95 eligible to take part in March. Among them, members of European and Asian royal families, including the Emir of Qatar; diplomats and lawmakers, including a former president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; businesspeople, including Nita Ambani, whose husband is India’s richest man; leaders of sports bodies; current and former Olympic athletes.
What is the IOC president’s job?
It’s an executive role running a not-for-profit organization that employs hundreds of staff at a modern lakeside headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC earns several billion dollars in revenue every four years from selling broadcasting and sponsor rights for the Summer Games and Winter Games.
Most of the money is distributed to the Olympic family: organizers of upcoming Games, including youth editions, governing bodies of Olympic sports, more than 200 national Olympic bodies, scholarships for potential Olympic athletes and special projects.
The job ideally calls for a deep knowledge of managing sports, understanding athletes’ needs and political skills.
How long can IOC presidents stay in the job?
A maximum of 12 years, with a first term of eight years and the chance for one re-election for a further four.
However, the IOC has an age limit of 70 and complex rules around membership status. It means some of the seven candidates could have to seek a special exemption while in office to complete a full eight-year mandate.
What are the challenges and big decisions ahead?
-
Picking a host for the 2036 Summer Games, with India and Qatar as strong contenders.
-
Renewing the United States broadcast deal that has typically underwritten Olympic finances. Bach moved quickly in 2014 to renew NBC’s deal through 2032. The next deal starts with the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
-
Both decisions factor into wider questions in regard to drafting the global sports calendar. July-August has been the optimal Summer Games slot since 2004. But a 2036 Doha Olympics could not be held in those months, and where could Games be comfortably held after another decade of climate change?
-
When and how can Russia be reintegrated fully into international sports with no end to its invasion of Ukraine in sight? Coe’s world track and field body currently excludes Russian athletes entirely.
…
Germany implements border checks as migration debate stirs election tensions
Germany began implementing checks on all its land borders Monday as the government tries to crack down on irregular migration. As Henry Ridgwell reports, many of Germany’s neighbors have criticized the plan, which they say undermines the core European Union principle of freedom of movement.
…
Eswatini activists say park rangers shoot suspected poachers with impunity
Mbabane, Eswatini — Some Eswatini legislators, backed by human rights activists, are calling for an urgent review of the Game Act of 1991, a law they say allows wildlife park rangers to shoot and kill suspected poachers with little or no accountability.
Game park owners have defended these shootings for years as necessary to protect animals. But critics contend that the Game Act instead jeopardizes human life.
Human rights lawyer Thabiso Mavuso of the Law Society of Swaziland, who has represented the families of shooting victims, says the law not only allows game rangers to use lethal force with impunity but also shields them from legal accountability.
“We have seen here in Eswatini the killing, injury and torture of people, some as young as 13 years and some in their 60s, but nothing has been done against the perpetrators … ,” Mavuso said. “This law needs reform. It must be aligned with human rights and general principles of constitutionalism such as accountability and responsibility.”
No one has exact numbers for how many suspected poachers have been killed in Eswatini’s game parks, but the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs estimates dozens are slain each year.
Game ranger Mandla Motsa told VOA that it is rangers who need protection and that the Game Law should not be altered.
“We have lost a lot of rangers – some have been killed and others injured,” Motsa said. “Almost all the time, the poachers shoot at rangers first. There has been a wrong narrative that we value the lives of animals more than that of humans. What people are forgetting is that there are two sides of lives involved in this issue and that is that of the ranger and the poacher. So, amending the Game Act would be to make it seem that our lives as rangers are also not important.”
However, political analyst Mandla Hlatshwayo said the killings in the parks are a consequence of the government’s abuse of power under the guise of environmental protection.
“What’s happening in the country in my view has nothing to do with environmental protection,” Hlatshwayo said. “The killing of so-called poachers in the manner that it’s actually taking place is wrong and must be condemned in the strongest of terms. We are witnessing the cold-blooded execution of suspects under circumstances that are very questionable. This is simple murder that is being condoned by the authorities, mainly because the victims are poor people with no power to fight back.”
Former Senator Ngomayayona Gamedze, whose family has suffered losses at the hands of game rangers, says the act must be amended to prioritize the sanctity of human life.
“Wildlife in Eswatini is now accorded higher status and greater protection than human beings,” Gamedze said. “This must be addressed by our legislators before human lives are further disregarded. Game rangers hold immense power over ordinary Swazis who love hunting, yet are penalized to the extent of death without trial. It is an injustice that the people of Eswatini are treated as less than animals, and a review of the Game Act is needed to prevent further loss of life.”
Government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said a motion from senators to amend the Gaming Act was being debated and that a vote was pending.
…
US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger
DAKAR, Senegal — The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Niger is complete, an American official said Monday.
A small number of military personnel assigned to guard the U.S. Embassy remain, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Earlier this year, Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement that allowed U.S. troops to operate in the West African country. A few months later, officials from both countries said in a joint statement that U.S. troops would complete their withdrawal by the middle of September.
The U.S. handed over its last military bases in Niger to local authorities last month, but about two dozen American soldiers had remained in Niger, largely for administrative duties related to the withdrawal, Singh said.
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for Washington because it’s forcing troops to abandon critical bases that were used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel. groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate in the vast region south of the Sahara desert.
One of those groups, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, is active in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and is looking to expand into Benin and Togo.
Niger had been seen as one of the last nations in the restive region that Western nations could partner with to beat back growing jihadi insurgencies. The U.S. and France had more than 2,500 military personnel in the region until recently, and together with other European countries had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training.
In recent months Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, turning instead to Russia for security. In April, Russian military trainers arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defenses.
…
Pakistan defendants face ‘grueling’ legal battles over blasphemy allegations, says new report
ISLAMABAD — A new report finds Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are being significantly misused, with many defendants facing baseless accusations, protracted legal battles and lengthy pre-trial prison time as judges tread carefully to avoid offending religious groups.
The U.S.-based Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) on Monday released its findings after monitoring 24 blasphemy lawsuits for six months during 2022 in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab.
The CJF said 15 of the accused are facing mandatory death sentences if convicted. However, the report said its monitors had noted little progress in most cases, with 217 out of 252 hearings adjourned, leaving many defendants stuck in pre-trial detention.
“This report shows a process fraught with significant delays and unfairness, exacerbating the widespread climate of misuse, discrimination, and intimidation that has developed around Pakistan’s blasphemy law,” said Zimran Samuel, a CFJ legal expert and visiting professor in practice at the London School of Economics.
“Pakistan’s blasphemy provisions in their current form and as they are being implemented are in urgent need of reform and reconsideration,” Samuel said.
Making derogatory remarks against Islam or the Prophet Muhammad in Muslim-majority Pakistan is punishable by death under the country’s blasphemy laws, though no one has ever been executed under the laws.
The CFJ’s report criticized the country’s blasphemy laws for being inconsistent with international standards, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The study noted that many blasphemy accusations lack evidence, with complainants often not witnessing the alleged acts. In some cases, it added that the specific blasphemous words are not even identified.
Despite safeguards in place, such as the requirement for government approval of charges, these are often disregarded, the report alleged.
The CFJ stated that defendants are often arrested without warrants, denied bail, and subjected to repeated adjournments due to missing witnesses, prolonging their legal ordeals. It called for Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws, raise the standards for filing allegations, deter false accusations, and reform court procedures to prevent endless delays.
“The judicial system in Pakistan has completely failed in preventing the abuse and malafide (bad faith) use of the blasphemy laws in Pakistan,” the report quoted Hina Jilani, a leading human rights lawyer and activist in Pakistan.
“While there are concerns regarding the laws as they are currently framed, the way that courts disregard the few procedural safeguards that were added to the legal framework has rendered prosecution in such cases farcical and an epitome of injustice,” stated Jilani, a recipient of the American Society of International Law award.
The report highlighted that some cases do not even go to trial, with mob violence against those accused of blasphemy on the rise.
Pakistani officials did not immediately respond to the CFJ findings, which came ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s review of the country, scheduled for October 17.
Islamabad has consistently rejected foreign criticism of its blasphemy laws, calling it an internal matter for Pakistan to deal with.
The report came just days after a police officer in the southwestern province of Balochistan shot and killed a man who was being held in custody on blasphemy allegations. The victim, a Muslim, was arrested a day earlier for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
In June, a 73-year-old Pakistani man from the minority Christian community died in a hospital a week after being violently attacked by a mob in his native Sargodha district in Punjab following accusations he insulted Islam.
Days later, on June 20, a Muslim man from Punjab was visiting the scenic Swat Valley in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when a mob violently lynched him for allegedly desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran.
Hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, are languishing in jails in Pakistan because fear of retaliation from religious groups deters judges from moving their trials forward.
The CFJ report backed long-running local and international rights groups’ concerns that the strict blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal vendettas or to persecute Pakistani minority communities.
The organization says its CFJ legal experts are tasked to monitor criminal trials globally against those who are most vulnerable, particularly journalists, democracy defenders, women and girls, LGBTQ+ persons, and minorities.
…
Pakistani man pleads not guilty to US assassination plot charges
NEW YORK — A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Asif Merchant, 46, entered his plea to one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn.
The judge ordered that Merchant be detained pending trial.
Federal prosecutors say Merchant spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot.
Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said.
The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani.
There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”
…
Thousands protest in France as high-profile rape cases rock country
Paris — Thousands of people protested sexual violence across France this past weekend, as two high-profile cases rock the country: one involving a woman who was allegedly drugged and raped by dozens of men for years; the other targeting a once-beloved French clergyman, who fought for the rights of the homeless.
In French cities like Marseille and Nantes, both men and women took part in demonstrations calling for an end to sexual violence.
They carried signs with messages like “No, to the culture of rape,” and “Gisele, we believe you” — in support of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot.
Pelicot’s former husband is on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of drugging her and recruiting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pelicot thanked the protesters and other supporters. They have given her force, she said, to fight for all those who are victims of sexual violence.
The Avignon trial is only the latest of a raft of sexual violence accusations targeting famous French actors and other figures.
Most recently, the spotlight has been on Abbe Pierre, once a crusader for the homeless. For years one of the most popular personalities in France, the priest died in 2007 at the age of 94. But in recent weeks, multiple allegations have surfaced that he sexually assaulted women in France and other countries over the decades. There are now efforts to strike his name from the charities he founded, as well as from parks and streets named after him.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Pope Francis said Abbe Pierre did a lot of good, but was also a sinner — and such things must be spoken about, not hidden.
The head of the French bishop’s association has since said that at least some French bishops had known about the cleric’s alleged abuses for decades.
…
US imposes sanctions on 4 Georgians over protest crackdowns
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed on Monday sanctions on two Georgian government officials and two members of the country’s pro-Russian far-right movement who it said were involved in violent crackdowns on protests.
Large street protests erupted in Georgia over a “foreign agent” law, which the South Caucasus country’s parliament passed in May despite criticism, including from U.S. officials, that it was Kremlin-inspired and authoritarian.
A Treasury statement said the financial sanctions on Monday targeted Georgia’s Chief of the Special Task Department Zviad Kharazishvili and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri, who oversaw security forces who violently suppressed the spring protests.
“The violence perpetuated by the Special Task Department included the brutal beatings of many attendees of the non-violent protests against the new foreign influence law, including Georgian citizens and opposition politicians,” the Treasury said.
It added that Kharazishvili was personally involved in the physical and verbal abuse of protesters.
Also targeted were Konstantine Morgoshia, founder of media company Alt-Info, and associated media personality Zurab Makharadze, Treasury said, accusing them of amplifying disinformation and spreading hate speech and threats.
The dispute around the foreign agents law was seen as a test of whether Georgia, for three decades among the more pro-Western of the Soviet Union’s successor states, would maintain its Western orientation or move closer to Russia.
The Georgian Dream party that controls parliament said the legislation was needed to ensure transparency in foreign funding of NGOs and protect the country’s sovereignty.
Washington has long criticized the law and launched a review into bilateral cooperation with Georgia.
The Biden administration has previously imposed visa bans on members of Georgian Dream, members of parliament, law enforcement and private citizens over the law and the protests.
…
Nearly 300 inmates escape after floods bring down prison walls in northeast Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian authorities said 281 inmates escaped after devastating floods brought down a prison’s walls in the country’s northeast.
A major dam collapsed on Sept. 10, unleashing severe flooding that left 30 people dead and over a million displaced, and prompted evacuations across the state of Borno.
Officers attempted to evacuate the city of Maiduguri’s main prison last week when they found out that the prisoners had escaped, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement Sunday night.
“The floods brought down the walls of the correctional facilities including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as the staff quarters in the city,” Abubakar said.
Security personnel were able to recapture seven of the inmates and an operation is still ongoing to locate the rest, he said.
The collapse caused some of the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago. The state government said the dam was at capacity due to unusually high rains.
Two years ago, heavy flooding in Nigeria killed more than 600 people across the country.
West Africa has experienced some of the heaviest flooding in decades this year, affecting over 2.3 million people, a threefold increase from 2023, according to the U.N.
…
Coe among 7 candidates to succeed Bach as IOC president
Lausanne, Switzerland — World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is the highest profile of the seven candidates to have declared on Monday their bid to succeed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Coe will face stiff opposition from, among others, Kirsty Coventry, bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC, and cycling boss David Lappartient.
The election will be at the IOC Session in Athens, which runs from March 18-21 next year.
Bach, 70, is standing down after serving 12 years. The German announced at the end of the Paris Games that he would not be seeking another term.
The other four candidates include two from Asia another continent never to have had an IOC president — Jordan’s Prince Faisal al-Hussein and gymnastics chief Morinari Watanabe.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, whose father of the same name was IOC president from 1980-2001 and transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, and a surprise entrant, ski federation president Johan Eliasch, round up the candidates.
First up for the septet is presenting their respective programs to the IOC members at the turn of the year.
“The candidates will present their programs, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025,” read a short IOC statement unveiling the candidates.
There will be a transition period post-election — not something Bach enjoyed when he succeeded Jacques Rogge in 2013 with the new president and his team assuming control in June.
…
Authorities install air quality Monitors around Nairobi
Authorities in Nairobi are trying to tackle the Kenyan capital’s chronic and worsening air pollution. With help from the U.S. Agency for International Development, authorities are placing sensors that can monitor air quality around the densely populated city. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo
…
Over 100 striking Samsung workers detained by Indian police for planning march
CHENNAI, India — Police on Monday detained 104 striking workers protesting low wages at a Samsung Electronics plant in southern India as they were planning a protest march without permission, with the dispute disrupting output at the key factory for the past week.
The detention marks an escalation of a strike by workers at a Samsung home appliance plant near Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Workers want higher wages and have stopped work at the plant that contributes roughly a third of Samsung’s annual India revenue of $12 billion.
The Samsung protests have cast a shadow on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan of courting foreign investors to “Make in India” and his goal of tripling electronics production to $500 billion within six years.
Lured by cheap labor, foreign companies are increasingly using India for manufacturing to diversify their supply chain beyond China.
On Monday, the workers planned to start a protest march, but were detained as no permission was given since there are schools, colleges and hospitals in that area, said senior police officer of the Kancheepuram district K. Shanmugam.
“It is the main area which would become totally paralyzed and [the protest would] disturb public peace,” he said.
“We have detained them in wedding halls as all of them can’t be in stations,” he said.
Samsung workers since last week have been protesting at a makeshift tent near the plant, demanding higher wages, recognition for a union backed by influential labor group the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and better working hours.
Samsung is not keen to recognize any union backed by a national labor group such as the CITU, and talks with workers, as well as state government officials, have not yielded resolution.
The CITU Tamil Nadu Deputy General Secretary, S. Kannan, condemned the police action, saying “This is an archaic move by the state government.”
Despite Monday’s police action, 12 union groups, including one affiliated with the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, said in a public notice dated Sept. 11 that they will stage a protest in support of the striking workers in Chennai on Wednesday, a move that could intensify the tensions between the company and the workers.
“We are going ahead with Wednesday’s protest … no changes to the plan,” said A. Jenitan, a deputy district secretary for the CITU.
The protests add to Samsung’s challenges in India, a key growth market.
The South Korean company is planning job cuts of up to 30% of its overseas staff in some divisions, including in India. And India’s antitrust body has found Samsung and other smartphone companies colluded with e-commerce giants to launch devices exclusively, violating competition laws, Reuters has reported.
Samsung did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, but on Friday said it has initiated discussions with workers at the Chennai plant “to resolve all issues at the earliest.”
Video footage from Reuters partner ANI showed dozens of Samsung workers wearing the company uniform of blue shirts being transported in a bus to a hall.
The Samsung plant employs roughly 1,800 workers and more than 1,000 of them have been on strike. The factory makes appliances such as refrigerators, TVs and washing machines. Another Samsung plant that makes smartphones in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has had no unrest.
The police also detained one of CITU’s senior leaders, E. Muthukumar, who was leading the Samsung protests at the factory near Chennai, according to the CITU’s Jenitan.
Kancheepuram police official Shanmugam said there was no timeline as to how long the workers will be detained.
…
Russian drone attacks target Kyiv
Pakistan braces for deadliest year for journalists, setting grim record
Islamabad — Pakistan has documented the killings of 11 journalists in 2024, reaching a record-breaking annual tally with nearly four months left in the year.
The South Asian nation continues to face persistent criticism for an alleged lack of justice or impunity for journalists’ murders, making it one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers.
The latest victim was Nisar Lehri, a 50-year-old Pakistani journalist and secretary of a local press club in violence-hit southwestern Balochistan province. Unknown assailants shot and killed him on September 4 near his home in the town of Mastung for his reporting about criminal elements, according to a complaint filed with the area police.
Lehri’s murder followed the death of reporter Muhammad Bachal Ghunio on August 27. He was associated with the local Awaz TV channel and was targeted by gunmen in his native Ghotki district in southeastern Sindh province.
Ghunio’s family and police investigators believe he was killed because of his reporting. Police subsequently announced the arrest of a suspect, and the recovery of a weapon allegedly used in the attack.
Islamabad-based nonprofit Freedom Network, an advocate for press freedoms, reported that before the two fatalities, nine journalists were killed in Pakistan this year, including a YouTube show host.
“Safety is every journalist’s key concern while reporting, and given the fact that 11 journalists, including a YouTuber, were killed this year so far, it has a chilling effect on independent media,” Iqbal Khattak, the executive director of the nonprofit network, told VOA.
Pakistani officials blame growing terrorist activities in the country for the uptick in attacks on journalists.
However, critics dispute these claims, noting that many of the journalist fatalities this year occurred in Sindh and the country’s most populous Punjab province, which have been relatively peaceful compared to terrorism-hit Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
While Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agencies are routinely accused of orchestrating violence against journalists critical of their involvement in national politics, influential feudal lords and politicians in Sindh, as well as Punjab, are often blamed for ordering violence against media workers in their native constituencies and escaping accountability.
“The deep-rooted impunity and political instability are driving the current violence. However, the list of press freedom predators is not restricted to the two drivers,” Khattak stated. “The list is long to name the predators. Terrorism is not excluded,” he added.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters Saturday that the federal government is working closely with authorities in the four provinces to address the challenges facing journalists.
“There are incidents in Sindh, I totally agree. Some people often use political influence to get their way and get out of these cases,” Tarar stated when asked by VOA about his government’s role in addressing the cases of fatal attacks on journalists and providing justice to their families.
The minister pledged to coordinate with provincial counterparts to investigate these cases and deter further violence against media workers.
“We need to set an example in one or two cases, so this does not happen again. I think this is a very important issue which needs to be handled,” Tarar said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based global media rights group, mourned the deaths of Lehri and Ghunio in a Friday statement.
“Pakistani authorities must immediately bring the perpetrators of the killings … to justice and show urgent political will to end the horrifying cycle of violence against journalists that has continued this year across Pakistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, the CPJ Asia program coordinator.
“The press in Pakistan cannot carry out their journalism unless the government and security agencies put an end to the impunity against journalists in the country,” she stressed.
The CPJ statement also noted that dozens of Pakistani journalists have been attacked or forced into hiding this year due to their reporting across the country.
Another global media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), urged Pakistan’s federal and provincial authorities in a recent report to take urgent measures to address the alarming decline in press freedom in the country.
“The many press freedom violations reveal a climate of violence, and a determination to censor that has little in common with the undertakings by the political parties in their elections campaign manifestos and the message of support for journalists by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” stated Celia Mercier, the head of RSF’s South Asia desk.
“Pakistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media personnel, and the level of impunity for the murders of journalists is appalling,” Mercier said in June.
Stifling free press
Until this month, millions of Pakistanis experienced significant disruptions in accessing major social media platforms nationwide, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, drawing a public outcry.
The military-backed Sharif government was blamed for imposing the shutdowns and internet slowdowns to deter dissent or political unrest.
Pakistani authorities rejected the allegations and blamed internet disruptions on a faulty submarine internet cable.
In an August 28 announcement, the state regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, announced that repairs to the faulty cable would likely be completed by early October, but slow internet speeds might persist until then.
VOA Islamabad Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman contributed to this report.
…
Mali, Burkina and Niger to launch new biometric passports
Bamako, Mali — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will soon launch new biometric passports, Mali’s military leader Colonel Assimi Goita said Sunday, as the junta-led states look to solidify their alliance after splitting from regional bloc ECOWAS.
The three Sahel nations, all under military rule following a string of coups since 2020, joined together last September under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), after severing ties with former colonial ruler France and pivoting toward Russia.
They then said in January that they were turning their backs on the Economic Community of West African States — an organization they accused of being manipulated by France.
In July, the allies consolidated their ties with the creation of a Confederation of Sahel States which will be chaired by Mali in its first year and groups some 72 million people.
“In the coming days, a new biometric passport of the AES will be put into circulation with the aim of harmonizing travel documents in our common area,” Goita said during a televised address late Sunday.
“We will be working to put in place the infrastructure needed to strengthen the connectivity of our territories through transport, communications networks and information technology,” he said.
The announcement came a day before the three states are due to mark the one-year anniversary of the alliance’s creation.
The neighbors are all battling jihadi violence that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
The unrest is estimated to have killed thousands and displaced millions across the region.
…