August 17, 2012
IFJ Mourns Death of Young Reporter in Pakistan
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) are
deeply saddened by the suicide of a young journalist in Lahore following her employer’s refusal to pay her salary.
Ms Semaab worked for local Lahore newspaper Daily Anti-Crime. She was the sole financial provider for her family including younger siblings and her father who requires regular medical
treatment for cancer. According to reports, Ms Semaab jumped from the fourth story of the hostel where she lived with
her family on August 15 following the newspaper management’s persistent refusal to pay her salary for several months.
The PFUJ and IFJ extend its deepest sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of Ms Semaab. Tragically, Ms Semaab’s
commitment to journalism was undermined by the very media organisation she worked for.
The exploitation of media workers in Pakistan is all too common. According to the PFUJ, media organisations including
Khabrain, AAJ TV, News 1, TV1, Royal TV, Wasaib, Channel 5 and Indus TV are known to withhold employee salaries. In
similar incidents over the past 12 months, journalists working for Channel 5 and Aaj TV committed suicide after their
employers withheld salaries for several months.
In a statement, PFUJ Secretary General Amin Yousaf demanded media owners stop exploiting their workers and called on the
Supreme Court Chief to take notice of this tragedy and direct the media owners to pay salaries to their workers.
The Seventh Wage Award for journalists and newspaper workers in Pakistan, announced in 2000, guarantees conditions and
wages under which journalists are employed in Pakistan however, the government and Wage Award Implementation Tribunal
have failed to implement the statutorily determined level of wages for journalists. Journalists are increasingly
employed without a contract or under short term contracts which are not accountable to the Wage Board.
“The death of Ms Semaab draws acute attention to the plight of exploited media workers in Pakistan” said IFJ Director
Jacqueline Park.
“The IFJ urges the Government of Pakistan to take decisive action in the implementation of the Wage Award and hold media
organisations accountable to all employees under the Act.”
The PFUJ, in partnership with the IFJ, recently deployed four missions to assess the situation for journalists in
Balochistan, Interior Sindh, the Khyber – FATA region and Punjab. The PFUJ/IFJ report on the State of Journalism in Balochistan Province, released on World Press Freedom Day 2012, is available on the IFJ website here.
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries
Find the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific
Find the IFJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IFJAsiaPacific
ENDS