His Excellency Asif Ali Zardari
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islamabad,
Islamic Republic of Pakistan

9 January 2012

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our grave concern at threats made against editor and TV presenter Najam Sethi and the continuing violence facing journalists in your country.

Mr Sethi is Editor-in-Chief of The Friday Times and a recipient of the Nishan I Hilal from you, Mr President, and the Golden Pen of Freedom Award from WAN-IFRA. He recently revealed on his Geo News TV show that he had received serious threats from “state and non-state actors” after raising questions about the military’s role in politics. He said that if the threats did not stop, he would be forced to name the organisations and officials responsible.

Mr Sethi has only recently returned from the U.S. where he spent several months after he and his family received threats. His remarks come a week after journalist Hamid Mir claimed that he too had received threatening messages from the security establishment.

According to reports, 29 journalists have been killed in Pakistan in the past five years, many of them for carrying out their professional duties.

We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence, and that state agencies have a duty to protect, not intimidate, journalists. The threat of violence has created a climate of fear among journalists that promotes self-censorship.

We respectfully call on you to take all necessary steps to ensure that those who threatened Mr Sethi are quickly brought to justice. We ask you to do everything in your power to stop attacks on journalists – both by state and non-state actors – so that they are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Jacob Mathew
President
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Erik Bjerager
President
World Editors Forum

WAN-IFRA is the global organization for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.