The 2017 World Freedom Index has placed Pakistan among the most dangerous countries for journalists. The ordeal of an Islamabad-based journalist will certainly not help improve the country's record, regardless of who was behind the abduction attempt-was it state actors or non-state actors? On Wednesday morning an attempt to abduct Taha Siddiqui backfired for those behind the bid to abduct someone working for several international media outlets.
According to Siddiqui, he was on his way to the airport when his cab was intercepted by armed men in two vehicles at the Islamabad Expressway. They pushed him into a car, but he jumped out of the moving vehicle and, ultimately, reached a police station. In his application to the police, Siddiqui told police that at least four persons, who were armed with AK-47s and pistols and in plain clothes, tried to drag him out of the car, screaming in English: "What do you think of yourself?" At a press conference at Islamabad's National Press Club on Wednesday night, Siddiqui said that he has no personal enmity with anyone, but he has been receiving threats regarding his journalistic work and social media activity. Last summer, he said, his name appeared on a list of individuals critical of the military that circulated on social media, adding that he was also "harassed" and summoned by the FIA to explain his journalistic work and social media activities.
Besides the national and global media, Amnesty International has condemned the abduction attempt. "Journalists like Taha Siddiqui have a right to carry out their work freely and without fear," says the international human rights organisation. Although all those behind this sordid affair are required to be brought to book, Siddiqui's stance that a high court in response to a petition that he filed had asked the FIA not to harass him does not lend legitimacy to his assertion to avoid summons or FIA inquiry on grounds that he "was reluctant to go to the FIA Headquarters on the basis that there have been several reports in the press where such phone calls are made and once the person who is to be interrogated sets out to the FIA Headquarters, he is either picked up and disappeared or detained illegally." The question is whether the high court had explicitly asked Siddiqui not to cooperate with the FIA. If his answer is in the negative, it is about time he revisited his strategy of clear defiance, as everyone, including a celebrated journalist like Taha Siddiqui, is equal in the eyes of the law. It is of utmost importance, and essential, that all media houses and journalists close ranks and firmly unite to present a unified stance and condemn such actions against the media and journalists. However, one must not lose sight of the fact that the country is facing proxy wars from the north-western and eastern fronts; and there is daily escalation from the two of its immediate neighbours amid growing US belligerence. While the situation, however critical it is, does not allow the country's security/intelligence agencies freedom to resort to unlawful methods in the performance of their duties, it underscores the need for journalists to give utmost respect to rule of law. The Constitution does oppose any moves against freedom of the press - Article 19 makes it clear that every citizen of Pakistan would have the right to form their own beliefs and communicate them freely to others. But nowhere does it give anyone immunity or exception from a penalty, or a burden that the law generally places upon other citizens.