JOURNALISM IN PAKISTAN

November 22, 1999
		Najam Sethi was one of three Pakistani journalists arrested last May. The arrests prompted fears that then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would silence the country's independent press. Before the arrests, all three journalists were interviewed for a BBC television report on high-level official corruption in Pakistan.

Online Special: International Press Freedom Awards Nov. 22, 1999: A profile of Pakistani journalists Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin. Oct. 21, 1999: A journalist and the story that landed him in a Malaysian jail May 21, 1999: Former New York Times editor Max Frankel talks about journalism today March 29, 1999: Disseminating war news on the Web Nov. 25, 1998: Gustavo Gorriti, a 1998 Press Freedom Award winner Nov. 25, 1998: A poem by 1998 Press Freedom Award winner Goenawan Mohamad Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media.     Committee to Protect Journalists CubaNet The Freedom Forum Human Rights Watch Inter American Press Association International Freedom of Expression Exchange Reporters without Borders

During his BBC interview, Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, told the story of a conversation he had with the chairman of Pakistan's taxing authority about tax evasion among the country's elite. The chairman "said everybody is corrupt, from the top to the bottom. He's talking about any member of any substance in the People's Party, every member of any substance in the Muslim League and every businessman of any substance in this country," Sethi told his interviewer. Sethi and his wife, Jugnu Mohsin, have continued to put out the weekly Friday Times in Lahore despite intimidation. Sethi's arrest was particularly chilling for Pakistani journalists, according to Kavita Menon, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "He had all the protections he could hope to have," Menon said. "It's a very influential news magazine and he comes from a very powerful family, and in Pakistan those things really matter. Most people are not big fish. That sends a message that others can't take that kind of risk." Since a military coup Oct. 12 toppled the Sharif government, conditions have not changed much, said Menon, who recently visited the Asian nation. "There is an unbelievable amount of surveillance -- it makes journalists very cautious and even paranoid. Faxes are intercepted, phones are tapped," she said. The new leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said the press should perform a "positive and constructive role," Menon said. But she worries about the future. "I wonder what happens when they begin to question him and his administrative policies," Menon said. "Will that be seen as a positive and constructive role?" Sethi and Mohsin view the power switch positively for now, viewing the current situation as a "honeymoon" between the press and the military government.