The 'Under Attack' page documents and highlights instances of violence, threats, and intimidation against journalists, news organizations, and press clubs across Pakistan since 2012. This section aims to shed light on the challenges media professionals face, their resilience in the face of adversity, and the broader implications for press freedom in the region. Some of the images in this section are graphic.
March 26, 2014: Armed assailants attack The News correspondent Irfan Burki, his son Tanvir Burki, and cameraman Shahid in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attack, involving seven men with guns and sticks, resulted in serious injuries.
February 03, 2014: The Freedom Network (FN) raises concerns over death threats to Geo News Television's Controller News, Ansar Ali Naqvi, by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) after he refused to follow their demands for live coverage of a protest rally.
January 18, 2014: Three Express News Television staff members are shot dead in Karachi by gunmen on motorcycles. This marks the third attack on the Express Media Group, with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claiming responsibility.
December 03, 2013: The Express Media Group's Karachi offices were attacked for the second time in four months, injuring a security guard. Armed assailants hurled bombs and fired shots at the building housing Express News TV and newspapers like The Express Tribune.
October 11, 2013: Sardar Shafiq, former secretary of the Abbottabad Union of Journalists, is in critical condition after being attacked by gunmen. Journalist unions have condemned the attack, calling for increased protection and justice for media personnel.
September 07, 2013: Ali Chishti, a journalist for The Friday Times, publicly shares his abduction and beating by uniformed police in Karachi. This incident challenges the Nawaz Sharif government to address the violence against journalists in Pakistan.
August 16, 2013: Gunmen on motorcycles fired at Express News Television offices in Karachi, injuring a security guard and a female employee. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists condemned the attack as an assault on press freedom. Police are investigating the incident.
January 22, 2013: In Jacobabad, police assaulted reporter Rajib Ali Soomro covering a protest after a 12th Rabiul Awal camp caught fire. The journalist fell unconscious and was hospitalized. The District Union of Journalists demands action against the police and the transfer of SSP Jacobabad Muhammad Yunus Chandio.
November 26, 2012: Television anchor Hamid Mir narrowly escapes an assassination attempt when police defuse a bomb planted under his car in Islamabad. Mir, who hosts Capital Talk on Geo Television, was criticized by the Taliban earlier. Authorities offer a cash reward for information on those responsible.
November 21, 2012: Dunya News reporter Kiran Khan and other journalists were injured in two bomb blasts in Orangi Town, Karachi. The attacks, one a suicide blast and the other a remote-controlled explosion killed four and wounded 13. Security personnel were also among the injured.
October 20, 2012: For the third consecutive day, media employees in Badshah Tower, Peshawar, work from home due to Taliban threats. Security remains tight around the tower, housing major media outlets like Geo TV and Jang. The indefinite closure follows TTP warnings after the Malala Yousufzai attack.
September 21, 2012: Noman Ahmed, a reporter with The Express Tribune in Karachi, is brutally beaten by accomplices of a former Nazim on the Baloch Colony flyover. Despite filing an FIR, police make no serious efforts to arrest the attackers.
August 02, 2012: Reporters Without Borders expresses concern for BBC Urdu correspondent Ayub Tareen, who fled Quetta after threats from the Baloch Liberation Front. The organization urges local authorities to enhance journalist safety and support dialogue to resolve disputes between the media and regional interest groups.
July 27, 2012: Frontier Post journalist Anwar Abbas is beaten by police at Islamabad's Daman-i-Koh picnic spot for having drinks during Ramadan fasting hours. Abbas sustains bruises on his face, and fellow journalists plan to protest police highhandedness outside the National Press Club.
June 19, 2012: Dunya TV's DSNG van is attacked by protesters in Rawalpindi during live coverage of a power load-shedding protest. The crew is manhandled, and the van's windscreen is damaged. The incident is speculated to be linked to the recently leaked off-air footage of a Dunya TV program.
June 04, 2012: Four journalists are beaten up by police during a protest in Swabi, coinciding with Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti's visit. The incident follows an earlier attack on journalists covering a protest against cable installation. Locals demand justice and disrupt traffic in response.
May 29, 2012: A Samaa TV crew is assaulted by medics at Lahore General Hospital while filming a family's complaint with permission from the DMS. The medics, also snatch the crew's camera, leaving the journalists bruised and cut.
May 23, 2012: Two members of a Dunya TV crew are injured in a shooting at an Awami Tehrik rally led by Rasool Bux Palejo in Karachi. The rally is against the potential partition of Sindh and the ongoing operation in Lyari. Ten people were killed, and several vehicles were set on fire during the attack.
May 12, 2012: Waheedur Rehman Khalil, a senior reporter with AVT Khyber News, escapes with a minor fracture after a bomb blast at a tomb in Nowshera. Reporting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains perilous, with 23 journalists killed between 2000-2011. Khalil and his team exemplify bravery in journalism.
May 11, 2012: Police in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, baton-charge journalists covering a protest against power load-shedding, injuring Siraj Ali from Geo TV and Sher Ali Khan from NewsOne. The injured were hospitalized in Peshawar amid protests blocking the M-1 Motorway.