Senior journalist with The News, Ahmad Noorani, was assaulted by unidentified attackers on the federal capital's Khayabane Suharwardy road on October 27. According to details, Noorani's car was stopped by three men travelling on a motorcycle near Zero Point Interchange while he was on his way home in Islamabad from Rawalpindi.
On October 25, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the murder of journalist Haroon Khan who was shot eight times in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province two weeks ago.
Haroon Khan, a correspondent for Waqt News TV, was shot dead on October 12 outside his house in Swabi town of same District in KP. Haroon Khan came under fire when he stepped out of his home. He was also affiliated with Akhbar-i-Khaiber, while earlier he remained associated with the Mashriq TV.
Pakistan is among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalism, France-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual press freedom report in May.
According to the 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by RSF, Pakistan ranks at 139 out of 180 countries.
At least 117 journalists have been killed in the past 15 years in Pakistan, and of these, only three cases were taken up in the judicial courts.
Pakistan continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists. The government shows little interest in taking action to address this situation and in fact its latest measures seem to display hostility towards media freedom.
The top position has been taken by Norway (up 2 at 1st) and it is pertinent to note that Norway is not a European Union member. North Korea (180th) scored last position in the index a country according to RWB "even listening to a foreign radio broadcast can lead to a spell in a concentration camp".
The Index’s bottom five also include Turkmenistan (178th), Syria (177th) that has been going through a never ending war and still the deadliest country for journalists targeted by both Syrian regime dictator and Jihadi rebels.
In Asia-Pacific region China (176th) and Vietnam (175th) are the world’s biggest prisons for journalists and bloggers. RWB terms Philippines (127th) and Bangladesh (146th). The report ranked Pakistan 139th out of 180 countries, which is a slight improvement from last year when the country was ranked at 147th. Last year, Pakistan managed to score 48.52 points out of 100 on the global score for press freedom. However the score has improved by 4.97 this year and the total has reached 43.55.