Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Journalists and rights activists have condemned the burglary at Daily Times correspondent Marvi Sirmed’s house, saying that the incident should be seen as a part of ongoing attacks on media freedom including the disruptions in the distribution of daily Dawn.

In a statement issued following the incident, the Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) co-founder Kiran Nazish said, “In Pakistan, it is increasingly clear how journalists are being threatened in innovative ways. Those who cannot be killed are abducted. Those who cannot be abducted or physically harmed are threatened, and then their families are threatened. This is one in a series of improvised attacks on Marvi [Sirmed] and her family. We want the government to take actions immediately to offer protection to Marvi and all other journalists especially as elections approach.”

Marvi Sirmed and her husband Sirmed Mansoor had found their house in Islamabad ransacked when they returned from a vacation in Lahore where they spent the Eid with their families. Among the valuables taken away were passports, a smartphone, and two laptops carrying important information related to rights violations as well as peace initiatives with neighboring Afghanistan and India under the track II diplomacy.

The news emerged late on Wednesday when Sirmed Manzoor posted on Twitter photos of different rooms in the house vandalised by the burglers.

Several journalists and civil society activists registered their protest against the attack and expressed solidarity with the family on the popular social media platform. They also urged the authorities to investigate the matter and track down culprits.

Senior journalist Hamid Mir said that it was sad to know about the robbery but added that such incidents were no longer new for journalists in Islamabad.

Journalist Murtaza Solangi wrote, ” Dear thieves, don’t bother burglarising homes to check our passports and digital devices, give time, date and venue of yours choosing we will bring them over to you.”

Space for freedom of expression has shrunk in the country over the last few years as journalists and human rights defenders feel increasingly unsafe in carrying out their professional duties.

Earlier in the year, Ahmad Noorani, a senior journalist with The News, was attacked in broad day light in Islamabad. Taha Siddique, then a correspondent with a foreign publication, avoided an abduction attempt in federal capital. More recently, citizen journalist Gul Bukhari was picked up by unidentified persons and kept in detention for several hours before she was let go.

In its monitoring report published in May this year, Freedom Network had noted that 15 cases of violations against media personnel were reported from across Pakistan in the month. The report found Islamabad to be the most dangerous city of the country for journalists.

Speaking to Daily Times, Farzana Baril, a rights defender, said that silencing and threatening critical voices would do no good to the country. She said the state and its institutions would get weakened if stern action was not taken against forces involved in attacks on freedom of expression.

Marvi Sirmed told DT that though an FIR had been lodged on the incident the family had yet to receive a copy from the Barakahu police station.

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.