Journalists Need to Be Protected: Says US on Killings of Journalists in Pakistan

The United States has reiterated its unwavering commitment to press freedom and journalist safety, urging nations worldwide to uphold these essential principles.

The Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department Vedant Patel made these remarks while commenting on the recent spate of journalist killings in Pakistan.

“Journalists need to be protected and they need to be allowed to do their jobs, whether that be in the United States, whether that be in Pakistan, whether that be in the Gaza Strip,” stated Patel, responding to questions about the murder of another Pakistani journalist a few days ago.

Pakistan has reported the killing of its eighth journalist in 2024, setting the stage for what could be the deadliest year for media practitioners in the country’s history.

The latest victim, Malik Hassan Zaib, a 40-year-old reporter with a privately owned newspaper in Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was killed recently. This region, which borders Afghanistan, has been a hotspot for violence.

The Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department underscored the personal significance of this issue to the Secretary of State and the entire department, stating, “It’s obviously personal to us and this team, given that we spend most of our days engaging with you all. Simply put, journalists need to be protected and need to be able to do their jobs.”

The escalating violence against journalists has provoked outrage among national and international media freedom advocates. They are calling on Pakistan to investigate these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based global media rights group, condemned Zaib’s murder, expressing alarm over the rising number of journalist killings in Pakistan.

“Authorities in Pakistan must immediately end this horrifying wave of violence and hold the perpetrators of the killing of journalist Malik Hassan Zaib to account,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director.

In the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders, Pakistan dropped two places to rank 152 out of 180 countries. The index described Pakistan as “one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with three to four murders each year that are often linked to cases of corruption or illegal trafficking and which go completely unpunished.”