THIS has been a bad year for freedom of expression in Pakistan. For both media and civil society, both freedom of expression and access to information have, in general, deteriorated since the country launched the National Action Plan (NAP) against militants in the wake of the gruesome Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan-led attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar last year which killed over 140 people, mostly schoolchildren.

If 2014 was the deadliest year for journalists in Pakistan`s history 14 casualties, according to the Freedom Network 2015 was probably the worst in terms of the coerclon of journalists. They were subjected to intimidation, harassment and attacks, and even l
This year has amply demonstrated that journalistsattractrisksiftheystepinto`grey areas` as the security establishment refers to the dif ferent regions where it is undertaking an operation, or if, because they are being coerced, they ignore the other party to the conflict. Not showing the other side`s narrative and keeping media under pressure on this were policy decisions the government took to implement NAP.

Four convicted terrorists were hanged in Kohat two weeks before the first anniversary of the school attack for their role in the crime. The post-school attack actions made the public `feel good` as terrorism-related incidents dropped significantly and a sense of security slowly returned despite surprises off and on, like the attack on the PAF base in Peshawar. But that is only one side of the story, as journalists will tell you. The other side is that the media is taking equally hard hits with Pakistan reviving the `press advisories` it used to send media houses two decades ago, to keep militants` narratives off print and airwaves. The 20-point NAP agenda includes a `ban on glorification of terrorism through print and electronic media`. This has dire implications for the media.

This allegation of `glorification of terrorism` was often flung at the media by the governments of Pervez Musharraf and Asif Zardari. Now it is the Nawaz Sharif government. Many media practitioners will tell you they have never been under so much stress as they are today, that the officially enforced or self-censorship and brazen threats to journalists` lives and media houses` security were not as rampant before 2015. A lot of it started af ter the school attack and the state`s response.

Journalists have been picked up from their homes in the middle of the night and abducted in broad daylight. More than half a dozen journalists, mostly tribals, were abducted or detained for days, with one ofthem forced to go abroad, thus becoming a `stateless journalist`. He was quizzed for `40 hours` with a hood on and deprived of sleep.

Never before have soldiers in uniform been seen to arrest a journalist.

Coercing the media to report what the military or the state finds good for NAP is putting the media and journalists at risk of being harmed. Tribal journalist Zaman Mehsud`s killing on Nov 3 proved apprehensions he `denied` militants space in his reports, if the `perpetrator` is to be believed.

This `professional space` the media uses to balance reports to stay safe has been taken away. Zaman`s killers sent by Taliban commander Qari Saifullah as he says he is named three other journalists who, it was warned, would face `similar consequences` for the same reasons.

One of them is on the radar because a report by him for his channel carried the words `Pak Fauj` to refer to army soldiers.If the media and journalists listen to one side and ignore the other or vice versa it heightens the danger. Soft targets are easy to take out. That is why an increasing number of attacks on DSNG vans, media assistants and media offices are taking place. This is happening while the command and control centres of militant groups are being des-troyed or pushed beyond the country`s borders, if the military is to be believed.

There are two aspects to the challenges the media is facing in this unfriendly environment. First the positive. Some editors took a decision to take an attack on any media house or journalist as an attack on the whole industry and the media community.

That is why the murder of Kohat journalist Hafizur Rehman was the frontor back-page story of several leading newspapers.

The negative aspect is that except for one or two media houses, the rest don`t have fullproof protocols making staff safety top priority. Some have safety protocols but there is loose implementation as they lack proper tools and systems.

Where does the solution to media and journalists` safety, media freedom and freedom of expression lie? The UN Plan of Action on Journalists` Safety and Issues of Impunity offers all media stakeholders a unique opportunity to jointly work towards these goals.• The writer is national coordinator on journalists` safety.

@khattak63