Pakistan is known as a dangerous country for journalists, but journalists belonging to other religions here consider themselves more insecure and troubled than Muslim journalists. These problems range from the internal environment of media houses to working in the field. Be it the issue of holidays or salaries on religious festivals or the issue of religious prejudice, journalists belonging to other religions often face problems.
Pawan Kumar, a Hindu journalist from Hyderabad, says he has to be very careful while reporting. He often runs the risk of being accused of blasphemy based on a single word. He says that only two Hindu festivals get space in the mainstream media of Pakistan. Their issues or small festivals do not get space in the mainstream media. Pawan says he has to be so careful that sometimes he does not even introduce himself.
Terence J. Sigmani, a journalist from the Christian community in Islamabad, says that he was once subjected to harsh propaganda by an office colleague, who said that his name was English and that he was anti-national. He says that he only encountered such a situation once, but it kept him under pressure.
They say that apart from this incident in the office and field, they have not faced such a situation. Most journalists from the Christian community have worked in good institutions where they have not faced religious prejudice. However, they have to inform their institutions about holidays during Easter and Christmas and sometimes the institution asks for notification of official holidays. If there is no notification, then the leave is not given. Similarly, if salary is demanded in advance on these festivals, it is not given.
He believes that most journalists from his community want to report on their own community, which makes them vulnerable to bias. They should not do so. They should choose a good beat to report on so that they can avoid being a victim of bias.
Ashok Ramani, who works with Sindh Express from Hyderabad, says that he faces many difficulties while reporting. He says that if there is an issue of blasphemy in Hyderabad and we are asked to report on it, we do not even tell anyone our name because religious extremism is very high here. He says that once a religious party attacked the Hyderabad Press Club and they were not given coverage.
In Sindh, we are called Sindhi community, but if there is someone from outside, then we feel discriminated against. Whenever there is a protest against India and we have to go to cover it, we have to be very careful. We don’t even tell anyone our name and identity.
Sindh-based journalist Vengs, who works on issues of minority religions, says that journalists belonging to other religions are not given the same status in institutions as Muslims. They are discriminated against. They are especially discriminated against in terms of holidays and salaries on their religious festivals.
Ashok Ramani says that we clearly feel discriminated against on the occasion of Holi, Diwali and other festivals. We do not get a holiday on Holi, Diwali and other festivals like Muslims get a holiday on the same day or on alternate days on Eids or other festivals. Apart from this, Muslims get their salary in advance on Ramadan and Eids but we are not paid in advance on our festivals. Along with this, when Muslims working with us are given money in addition to their salary for breaking the fast in Ramadan and are given bonuses on Eids, nothing like this happens to us on our festivals. Rather, we are deprived of the special treatment that Muslim journalists get on the occasion of Ramadan and Eids and we are not asked about our festivals, nor is the management of the organization aware of our festivals. Ashok says that there is also discrimination against us here that when there is a program in a temple, everyone comes and sanctity is not taken into account, but if we have to go to cover an event in a mosque or madrasa, since most journalists know us, everyone starts staring at us. He said that the constitution of Pakistan says about equality, but we are not even considered second-class citizens.
A few months ago, at a journalism workshop in Islamabad, a Sindhi journalist from Sindh narrated his experience that Pakistan’s electronic (Urdu) media is so uncivilized and ignorant of religious matters that sometimes we are told a few days before Holi or Diwali that our DSNG has come to your station, so you should organize a festival somewhere and make a report on it. He said that the electronic media instructs us that while making a report on Diwali, we must say these words at the end: “Prayers were offered for the prosperity and security of Pakistan in this Diwali puja.”
Regarding the opportunities available to journalists belonging to minority religions in Pakistan, renowned journalist Subukh Syed says that it is a fact that people belonging to religions other than Islam are given less space in Pakistan’s mainstream media. If an institution does give space, it does so in the same way that women are given specific beats in Pakistani journalism and they get less opportunity to report on prominent beats. Similarly, if a Christian or Hindu journalist comes, he is asked to report on minority issues, meaning he is not brought into the mainstream.
There are some rare examples of a journalist from a minority religion being in a good position. For example, Cyril Almeida was in Dawn, Mukhesh is a Geo News reporter from Hyderabad. There is a female journalist in Peshawar who belongs to the Sikh religion. Similarly, Harmeet Singh does a program on Public News and a Sikh Dost has been doing a program on Pakistan Television. But overall, we do not find such examples that can be called a significant number.
In the past, the government of Pakistan, on the orders of the Supreme Court, had emphasized the allocation of a five percent quota for non-Muslim minorities in all sectors, and the media has often talked about this. This quota is not being met, but the fact is that this quota is not being met even within the media.
Subukh Syed says that the quota of minority religions should be fulfilled among the anchors of all channels, and similarly, this quota should also be fulfilled in other departments, including reporting and desks, etc.
According to Subukh Syed, the disadvantage of all this is that the problems of religious minorities in Pakistan are not seen at all. If a reporter belonging to a minority religion comes, he is ridiculed in his absence. In such a situation, when people from religious minorities consider themselves weak, such attitudes make them feel even weaker.
