As Pakistan maintains its unenviable position as the eighth most dangerous country in the world as per the Immunity Index of the Committee to Protect Journalists, another ugly feather has been added to its profile pertaining to the media. The unceremonious expulsion of The New York Times (NYT) Bureau Chief in Pakistan Declan Walsh on a one-day notice has not only shocked the journalistic community in Pakistan, it has also subjected the country to a great deal of criticism internationally. Pakistan is in a precarious geo-political situation, enmeshed in a volatile war in Afghanistan, and fighting its own proxy-army-gone-rogue (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan). Moreover, US drone attacks have been a constant, thus increasing the number of casualties in the war-torn tribal areas of Pakistan. The coverage of the terrorist mayhem in FATA, and even the violence-riddled Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become, literally, a game of life and death for media personnel, both electronic and print. The reported number of journalists killed in the last decade is 23, thus marring the scope of honest and in-depth reporting of the ground realities in certain areas. In addition to that, the establishment’s refusal to allow reporters beyond certain marked areas show there is much that needs to be covered, be it Pakistan’s covert allowing of drone strikes or the level of fighting with the militants. Walsh’s deportation is a very uncomfortable reminder of the time when papers were ‘blackened’, PTV was the only source of news, and journalists were penalised for reporting the truth. Walsh’s tremendous body of work, first at The Guardian, and then at The NYT, two of the most famous and esteemed publications globally, merits treating him with respect in Pakistan. The insinuation of ‘undesirable activities’ by Walsh reeks of the interference of the establishment agencies in a purely governmental domain, where the Interior Minister’s mysterious behaviour to expel him in an ungraceful hurry, and that too on the eve of the May 11, 2013 historic election leaves much to be desired. A journalist of Walsh’s stature — who regularly reported on the army and ISI, thus probably putting him in their persona non grata list — should have been ‘dealt’ with in a dignified manner, befitting a Pakistan that is trying its utmost to present a soft and civilised image to the world via the international media posted here. The caretaker information minister, Mr Arif Nizami, who is a journalist and editor himself, remains silent on this debacle, which in itself is a big question mark on the integrity of the entire concept of the freedom of press in an increasingly intolerant Pakistan. *