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- Protesters in Karachi condemn the killings of Middle Eastern journalists in Gaza and Lebanon in Israel’s attacks
- Pakistani journalists say international media should not mince words while exposing the aggressor in the conflict
KARACHI: In the Pakistani port city of Karachi, journalists held a protest demonstration in front of the press club on Saturday to express solidarity with their Middle Eastern counterparts who have been killed in Israeli attacks since it started aerial bombardment of Gaza.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based entity that seeks to promote international press freedom, 11 journalists have lost their lives while two others have been injured and some have gone missing during Israel’s airstrikes pounding the besieged Palestinian territory.
Among the high-profile killings, Ahmed Shehab, a journalist employed by Sowt Al-Asra Radio, lost his life in an Israeli airstrike targeting his house in Jabalia which also caused the death of his wife and three children. In another tragic incident, a Reuters videographer, Issam Abdallah, was killed and six other journalists were injured in an Israeli missile strike in southern Lebanon.
The Pakistani journalists screened the video clip of Shehab’s last moments and read a resolution during their protest demonstration.
“We urge the UN, Reporters Without Borders, and other global journalists’ unions to immediately launch an investigation into the killings of journalists, which we believe is part of the war crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces in Palestine,” the resolution said.
“We haven’t heard about what happened in Gaza after the breakdown of Internet service, an Israeli act aimed at silencing journalists,” it continued.
A journalist is pictured holding a "Dear world, hold Israel accountable!" placard during a protest demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian counterparts in Karachi, Pakistan on October 14, 2023. (AN photo)
The protest was attended by journalists from various media outlets and urged the international media community not to mince their words while reporting Israel’s “war crimes.”
“We request our colleagues around the globe to stand by the truth and expose those among the media community who are indulging in deliberate act of disinformation to support Israel,” GM Jamali, president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), said.
He informed he was already in conversation with international stakeholders to chalk out a strategy to counter disinformation.
“Instead of showing a bias in favor of the aggressor, as we have witnessed in several cases during last week, major global outlets should report on war crimes done by the Israeli forces,” AH Khanzada, PFUJ secretary general, said.
Karachi Press Club Secretary Shoaib Ahmed noted it was unfortunate that some of the prime media organizations were “avoiding to name the killers of their staff members.”
“In the case of Issam Abdallah, as we observed, his organization opted not to name the killer,” he said during his speech. “Such actions by journalists and journalist organizations not only obscure the truth but also significantly undermine the media’s reputation as an independent pillar of the society.”
The protesters also condemned the killing of innocent Palestinian men, women and children in Israeli airstrikes.
“The world is witnessing a genocide in Palestine,” Khalil Nasir, president of the Karachi Union of Journalists, said. “All the world powers and Muslim states have the responsibility to stop this. Journalists should also play their role to dig out the truth to hold the aggressor responsible.”