* Local, international bodies call on Taliban, al Qaeda to stop targeting civilian crowds as it also results in loss of journalists’ lives

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Twenty six journalist organisations from around the world on Monday called on the Taliban, al Qaeda and other jihadi organisations in Pakistan to stop targeting civilians with their attacks, wherein journalists also lost their lives in the line of duty.

“We appeal with the utmost urgency to the leaders of the Taliban, jihadi movements and al Qaeda in Pakistan to put a stop to all further suicide bombings on public gatherings,” the appeal from the organisations that included the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders said.

“As journalists, we have to cover official events first hand but that does not mean that we support this or that politician or public figure. By targeting large gatherings, the organisations are endangering the lives of innocent civilians and reporters. This is not acceptable. We can no longer accept the loss of lives of our fellow journalists,” the appeal said.

It comes more than a week after two TV journalists were killed in two days in suicide bombings in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Malik Arif, a Quetta-based TV cameraman and Azmat Ali Bangash, a Kohat-based reporter for the same TV network, were both covering stories at the time of the bombings.

“We, the undersigned journalists of Pakistan and defenders of press freedom around the world, condemn with the utmost firmness all recourse to suicide bombings in the middle of crowds of civilians that result in the deaths of innocent people, including media workers,” the appeal added.

According to the Paris-based press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders, suicide bombings have made Pakistan one of the “world’s most dangerous countries for the press”. The following organisations signed the appeal — Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, Association of Caribbean Media Workers, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Cartoonists Rights Network International, Centre for Media Studies and Peace Building (Liberia), Comité por la Libre Expresión (Honduras), Ethiopian Free press Journalists’ Association (Ethiopia), Exiled Journalists Network, Independent Journalism Centre (Moldova), Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (Azerbaijan), Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (Indonesia), Institute of Mass Information (Ukraine), Journaliste en danger (RD Congo), Media Foundation for West Africa (Ghana), Media Rights Agenda (Nigeria), Media Watch (Bangladesh), National Union of Somali Journalists (Somalia), Observatoire pour la liberté de presse, d’édition et de création (Tunisia), Pacific Freedom Forum, Pacific Islands News Association, Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (Palestinian occupied territory), Southeast Asian Press Alliance, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and World Press Freedom Committee.
Source: Daily Times
Date:5/11/2010