Farrukh loves the camera There are some colleagues who we donot know personally but the kind of passion they show towards their work wins over our hearts. Farrukh Asif, is one such co worker. And I realised his qualities on the recent trip to Hunza to cover the Attabad lake crisis.
He had a problem gulping down breakfast each morning and our shooting schedule was always planned for early morning. Without a frown he would be ready to leave with me. So passionate and agile towards his work that every evening he would surprise me with the extra shots he had taken , that I had not even asked for ! That ofcourse contributed a great deal towards making my reports visually rich.
I suffered from slight disbelief when I found out that police had beat him for simply doing his job. He was only shooting video of a scuffle between police and inflential people in Liberty market over an illegal parking lot. This goes on to show how insecure themselves are those responsible for ensuring security for the junta.
Just go through the statistics below. It will give you a sense of how alarming the situation is.
In 2008, there were 51 cases of torture on journalists in Islamabad alone, 39 in Sindh, 22 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16 in FATA, 14 in Balochistan and one incident in the northern areas.
Three journalists were killed in Lahore while four others were murdered in Sindh and Balochistan each.
About 13 journalists were kidnapped as well in 2008.
While in 2009, 34 journalists in Islamabad recieved life threats. 22 journalists in Sindh, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine in FATA and four in Balochistan also faced a similar situation.
Meanwhile, the South Asian Free Media Association's record shows that 12 journalists have been killed in South Asia in the current year.
Of these, seven media personnel were killed in Pakistan alone including journalist Ashiq Ali Mangi. In all these cases, police failed miserably to bring any of the culprits to justice.
Not only that but police and lawyers were also actively involved in several cases of torture.
35 journalists have been manhandled by either police or lawyers in 2010.
Doctors at Jinnah Hospital also tortured media officials on March 5th of the current year.
The young, energetic Farrukh is now under treatment at a hospital in Lahore. I am sure the wounds on his body would heal soon but what about the cuts on his soul. How would they be cured?
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