Gunmen harassed this paper’s chief reporter, Afnan Khan, last week. Mr Khan was fortunate enough to escape an attempted kidnapping, or worse. Like many other media institutions in Pakistan, Daily Times has also been the recipient of intimidatory ‘messages’ for its stance as a liberal and democratic voice for the people of Pakistan. From the assassination of its late publisher, Salmaan Taseer, for publicly lending support to minorities victimised by the controversial blasphemy laws, it is evident that the fanatics will stop at nothing to stamp out anyone who appears to be a hindrance in their objective to impose their extremist and oppressive beliefs on society. It is indeed tragic when a country that claims to uphold democratic values impedes the full and free functioning of its fourth estate, the media. According to the Press Freedom Index 2010 released by Reporters Without Borders, Pakistan was ranked 151 out of a list of 178 countries. With at least seven more journalists killed, 2011 becomes another deadly year for the journalists of Pakistan, making it amongst the 10 most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Pakistan is a country where routine interference from state and non-state actors has endangered the profession of journalism, whose practitioners are vulnerable to harassment, kidnapping, torture, and even death. It takes mere dabbling in forbidden subjects or reportage of news that compromises the interests of either the government authorities or banned religious extremist outfits for journalists to be targeted and subjected to intimidation and violence. According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), a total of 36 journalists have been targeted and killed since 1992 and to this day the deaths of these journalists remain an enigma with the killers still unknown and at large. It is also extremely shameful that in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2011 Impunity Index — highlighting countries where the killers of journalists are uncaught — Pakistan is ranked at number 10 because of its nearly impeccable record of impunity for the perpetrators of crimes against journalists. This abysmal ranking reflects the failure of the civilian government to protect journalists and investigate the deaths of those it had failed to protect as not one of the cases has ever been solved or the killers brought to justice. It is, therefore, imperative that the government take notice of the increasing risks to journalists in Pakistan and provide them with adequate security so that they can carry out their professional obligations without fearing for their lives. Persecution and targeting of the watchdogs of a society whose primary occupation is to discover wrongdoing and expose it in the greater public interest is unacceptable and must not be allowed to continue under any circumstances. *