The Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on Tuesday honored slain journalist Arshad Sharif with the ‘Press Freedom Award’ 2023.
Sharif, an outspoken critic of Pakistan’s government and its powerful military, was killed when police fired on his car in a Nairobi suburb in October last year. Kenyan police later said the killing was a case of mistaken identity.
However, a team of Pakistani investigators investigating his alleged murder released a report in December 2022 that Sharif’s killing was a “planned, targeted murder”.
The incident made headlines around the world and sparked outrage among civil society, media, and political circles. She also highlighted the dangers facing journalists in Pakistan due to increasing censorship and press freedom violations in the South Asian country.
Sharif’s family, including his wife Javeria Siddique, accused the government of being not serious about the investigation into her husband’s alleged murder.
According to a recent report compiled by the Freedom Network, cases of press freedom violations, which include threats, arrests, and attacks on journalists in Pakistan, have increased by 63 percent in the past eleven months.
Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. A Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report last year said 93 journalists had been killed in the South Asian country over the past 20 years.
