KABUL (SW) – The Afghanistan Federation of Journalists and Media has painted a grim picture of press freedom in the country.
The AFJM released a one-month report on the situation of the country’s journalists in March. The report shows that violence against journalists more than doubled in March. As per it, 22 threats, insults and arrests of journalists were reported in the country in March; Journalists witnessed nine cases of violence in February.
Sayed Ali Asghar Akbarzada, a member of the AFJM said: “One case was reported in Khost province, one in Paktia province, one in Nangarhar, seven in Kandahar and 11 in Kabul”.
Meanwhile, Belal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, told Salam Watandar that the Islamic Emirate has plans to reduce violence against journalists. Karimi added that in order to reduce violence against journalists, coordination with the forces of the Islamic Emirate should be ensured.
Officials from the Federation also say that in the past month, five audio-visual media outlets have been shut down due to financial problems. The members of this federation, in order to improve the situation of journalists and information, suggested to the Islamic Emirate to clarify its media policy as soon as possible and to resume the activities of media violation and access to information commission.
On the other hand, a number of journalists claim that a number of institutions that support journalists, without legal legitimacy, obtain projects by exploiting the journalists’ identities and cards and make large sums of money.
On behalf of the journalists, Sanobar Parsa expressed his demands: “I call on the Federation of Journalists and the Islamic Emirate to take serious action in this regard and to prevent the misuse of the journalist’s name. My request to the international community is not to be deceived by the institutions that work under the name of the journalist, and to help and identify the real journalists.”
Gul Mohammad Gran, a senior member of the Federation, promised to co-operate and pursue cases of misuse of journalists’ names in the community.
This comes amid rising concerns among journalists and media houses in regard to the prevailing situation in the country.
ENDS
