Pakistan is
among the worst countries in terms of safety of journalists, ranked ninth in
the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) annual Global Impunity Index – which
lists nations where murderers of press members often go unpunished.

Pakistan
has remained among the worst countries in the world in terms of press freedom according to the CPJ’s Global Impunity Index since its inception in 2008, ANI
quoted Geo News as reporting.

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Somalia has
retained its spot at the top of the list, which remained mostly unchanged over the
past year, according to an ANI report. Syria, Iran and Sudan complete the top
four as violence against journalists continues due to conflict, political
instability and weak judiciary mechanisms.

However,
the latest Global Impunity Index was made with data from September 1, 2011 to August
31, 2021 and does not fully reflect the increased danger faced by journalists
in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country. Afghanistan has been
ranked fifth in the list for a third year running.

Promises made by the Taliban’s leadership to protect press freedom rang hollow within days of the takeover as its fighters carried out scores of violations against media workers, including beatings and arbitrary detentions, the CPJ said in a release. 

A total of
278 journalists were murdered around the world in the ten-year period in the report
– that includes the Syrian civil war, protests against governments in Arab countries,
attacks against media workers by extremist groups and organised crime rings.

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The CPJ has
recorded complete impunity, or cases where no one has been convicted of the
crime, in 226 or 81% of those murders.

In its
previous index period – from September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2020 – the CPJ report
found that 83% of journalist murders went unsolved.