Respect for press freedom has fallen sharply in recent weeks in Afghanistan, a fact-finding mission report by international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders said on Monday. The Paris-based organisation’s report said, “The murder of Jawed Ahmad, a reporter for various Canadian news media in Kandahar, the newspaper Payman’s closure as a result of pressure from conservatives and the government, and the supreme court’s confirmation of Perwiz Kambakhsh’s 20-year jail sentence are all evidence that press freedom is in serious crisis.”
The fact-finding team visited Afghanistan in January. “Media diversity is a reality that can be attributed to the policies of President Hamid Karzai and the international community, but at the same time there has been a constant increase in violence against the press and there is little evidence of a government commitment to combating it,” it found.
Taliban: The Taliban were to blame for much of the violence, but the security forces, local authorities and international military forces were also “guilty of seriously obstructing the work of journalists,” the report added. “As the international community debates the strategy to adopt in Afghanistan, Reporters Without Borders urges the Afghan authorities and all the parties to the conflict to make respect for press freedom a priority.” Pressure on the media could increase during the run-up to the presidential election, taking place in August, it feared. The report covered the crucial issues of journalists’ safety, the problems faced by women journalists, the media law that has not been implemented, the news “black holes” in the regions where the Taliban have an upper hand and finally manipulation of information about the war’s civilian casualties and the subsequent disputes.