By Nava Thakuria*
Afghan journalists are facing physical torture from the Taliban forces and many of them had already taken shelter in foreign countries. A recent report, jointly published by Afghanistan Journalists Centre and Afghan Independent Journalists Association, indicated that over 40% of media outlets (out of 224 news channels, radio outlets, news websites, and newspapers) have ceased operations due to funding shortage and imposed limitations.
The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body, has criticized the Taliban, who continues to victimise the Afghan journalists after seizing power in Kabul during August last year.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, hundreds of working journalists (most of whom are female) have left the country. The Taliban regime must fulfil its commitment to support press freedom. Moreover, the international community should continue supporting the Afghan media fraternity to prevent its imminent collapse in a conflict-ridden nation, the PEC stated.
To date, globally 32 journalists have lost their lives to assailants since 1 January, an increase of 100% compared to last year. The highest number of nine casualties are recorded in Mexico (Jose Luis Gamboa, Margarito Martinez, Lourdes Maldonado, Roberto Toledo, Marcos Ernesto Islas Flores, Heber Lopez Osorio, Michelle Perez Tadeo, Juan Carlos Muñiz and Armando Linares) followed by Haiti (Amady John Wesley, Wilguens Louissaint and Lazarre Maxihen) and Pakistan (Hasnain Shah, Murtaza Shar and Athar Mateen).
India has also witnessed the murder of three scribes (Rohit Kumar Biswal, Sudhir Saini and Juned Khan Pathan) till today this year, whereas Yemen (Mervan Yusuf), Brazil (Givanildo Oliveira), Turkey (Gungor Arslan), Philippines (Jaynard Angeles), Kazakhstan (Muratkhan Bazarbayev), Tchad (Djaï-Loramadji Evariste), Honduras (Pablo Isabel Hernandez Rivera) and Myanmar (Pu Tui Dim) lost one journalist each to assailants.
*The writer is a senior journalist and PEC’s south Asia representative
