PAKISTAN: Taliban Threaten Associated Press Journalist

Salem-News.com Eye on the World report.

Both the President of Pakistan and The Associated Press have an obligation to protect journalists like Ashraf Khan.

(HONG KONG) - A one-time threat has been issued against a journalist named Ashraf Khan with The Associated Press (AP), in Pakistan, by Taliban's Karachi chapter. His family has also been threatened in this shocking incident that is not being adequately addressed by the management of AP. They are refusing to find ways and means to ensure the security of Khan and his family members. The answer from The AP< has been a request that Mr. Khan leave the organization. So his choices now range between being a victim of life threats, and unemployed.

Our goal with Eye on the World is to illustrate and highlight politically oriented problems and tragedies that traditional media channels don't have time or interest in covering.

The world has its own set of laws that were agreed upon by the ruling nations in 1948, and many people are not aware of this simple fact. At the root of the concept of world citizenry itself, is the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an overriding and supreme law that ensures many essential human rights that governments today fail to observe. Also central to any hope of human success, is the understanding of the human hierarchy of needs, as defined by Abraham Maslow- more information on this at the conclusion of this entry. We must use the Internet as a tool of justice at every junction, and we need to assist all human beings, everywhere, and not allow cultural, racial or religious preferences as determiners.

In this letter to Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan, President’s Secretariat in Islamabad, Mr. William Gomes urges the government to offer protection to Ashraf Khan and his family members who are under direct Taliban threats. Both the government of Pakistan and the Associated Press, as employer of the journalist, have undeniable obligation to protect this journalist and his family. William Gomes also also urges official action against the person who sent him the death threat letter and resides in Karachi. Additionally, The AP should follow the laws of the country and file a police report, as well as providin protection to Ashraf Khan and his family.

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Mr. Asif Ali Zardari President of Pakistan President’s Secretariat Islamabad PAKISTAN Tel: +92 51 9204801/9214171 Fax: +92 51 9207458 Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk Re: PAKISTAN: Taliban threaten Associated Press journalist Dear President of Pakistan, Name of victim: Mr. Ashraf Khan, correspondent at Karachi, Associated Press (AP), 808-A, Saima Trade Tower, I. I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi, Pakistan Names of alleged perpetrators: Mr. Abu Hamza Karachvi, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Karachi circle Sindh province Date of incident: February 21, 2012 Place of incident: Karachi, Sindh province I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the life threats to a journalist; Ashraf Khan of Associated Press (AP), a USA based news agency operating in Pakistan, from Taliban, Karachi chapter, and his family members from Taliban Pakistan. It is very shocking for me that the management of AP has refused to find ways and means to ensure the security of Khan and his family members. Rather Mr. Khan has been asked by the company to leave the organization. He has become victim of life threats on one hand and unemployed on the other hand. I am informed that on 21 February, Ashraf Khan received a hand written letter from chief of the Taliban Karachi chapter in Urdu language which threatened him that he is under watch and the letter is first and the last warning. The translation of the letter is here; ” Ashraf Khan: Stop representing infidel media and enmity against Islam. Your every story is comprised anti-Islamic report. We have close watch on your movement. Take this letter as your first and the last warning Abu Hamza Karachvi 27th Rabi ul Awal, 1433 H” Please find the copy of hand written threat in the link. Ashraf Khan immediately contacted AP’s head office at Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, and informed about the written threat from Taliban Pakistan. He advised him to leave the city immediately for Islamabad along with his family. He moved to Islamabad the next day and stayed there for over a week. During his stay at Islamabad he kept in touch with the AP officials inside Pakistan and at its world headquarters at New York, USA, to find the ways and means to ensure the security of him and his family. He also told them that when the Taliban or Al Qaida threatens any person then they mean that and implement the orders according to their high command. It is any how possible to deal with the government and state intelligence in the case of threats but for Al Qaida and Taliban, according to their practices, there is no way to stop them or deal. He requested the company to facilitate him to leave the country for the US. The irony of the whole episode is that after passing of one month AP told him to leave the company and they cannot help in providing protection to him or settling outside the country. Last week, the chief of Pakistan office of the AP telephoned Ashraf Khan and told him that the matter had been discussed with the big bosses and it would not be possible to relocate him to the US because of the policy shift in the aftermath of 9/11. He candidly suggested that the threatening letter says that Ashraf works for AP, which is accused by the Taliban as an infidel media. So it would be safe for Ashraf if he quits. The chief of AP in Pakistan further said that AP would pay Ashraf money for his sustenance. It was very shocking for Ashraf Khan and he felt himself a very insecure while under threats from terrorists. Ashraf Khan told his superior officials of AP that the news agency’s advice is no more than an ‘economic murder’ and he would become a soft target. The AP has also not indicated him that if he leaves the company then how the AP would pay him. The office is still tight lipped on the mode of payment after he leaves the company. I am aware that the family of Ashraf Khan is in serious distress and they are paranoid and extremely suspicious of the atmosphere. Any unknown call on their cell phone puts them in anguish. The children are most victim of the whole situation and they cannot attend their schools. It has become an agony for Ashraf Khan’s family who are deeply anguished about their well being as well as about the life of Ashraf Khan. Being a victim of militant threats and unemployment Ashraf Khan cannot report this case to the police, because of company’s permission is required and secondly, if he reports then it will invite the terrorists to take revenge. The journalist feels that he has been a victim of racial discrimination, as a Pakistani journalist, by the officials of AP, which behaves irresponsibly and non-professionally while the life of its journalist is under serious threat. I therefore urge you to provide protection to Ashraf Khan and his family members who are under direct threats from Taliban Pakistan. Both the government of Pakistan and the Associated Press, as employer of the journalist, have undeniable obligation to ensure protection of Mr. Ashraf Khan and his family. I also urge you to take action against the person who has sent him the death threat letter and resides in the Karachi. The AP, a news agency operating in Pakistan, should follow the laws of the country and file a report at police and it should also provide protection to Ashraf Khan and his family. Yours sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes William’s Desk www.williamgomes.org Download here: http://www.williamgomes.org/?p=664

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs

As children we are educated in right and wrong, we are told how to conduct ourselves; we learn both expectations and limitations, and from that point we go forth with these tools, and our individual personalities, and fail or succeed accordingly.

In school we quickly understand that without paper, there is no place to write. Once we have paper, a pen or pencil is required to move to the next point. There is a great analogy that exists between this simple concept of paper and pen, and what we know today as Maslow's hierarchy of needs- the theory in psychology proposed in Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation.

He demonstrated how without the correct necessities, a person can do little good for themselves, and has none to offer for others. However when people are housed and have clothing, heat, food, health and security, anything is possible. However if just one of these dynamics is removed from the mix, the chance for success can be adversely affected.

Wikipedia describes Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a pyramid consisting of five levels:

The lowest level is associated with physiological needs, while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to identity and purpose.

The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no longer be met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level.

For instance, a businessman at the esteem level who is diagnosed with cancer will spend a great deal of time concentrating on his health (physiological needs), but will continue to value his work performance (esteem needs) and will likely return to work during periods of remission.

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Special thanks to William's Desk

williamgomes.org

Salem-News.com Writer William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.

Pictures from Afghanistan by Tim King: View Photos From Tim King's time in Afghanistan | More Afghanistan War photos

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Anonymous March 26, 2012 9:22 am (Pacific time)

This all comes down to the United Nations which is mostly corrupt, bought and paid for. The AP is a schill to the elite. Period. What do you expect? Maybe the U.S. should fix their own backyard before trying to clean up the neighbors yard? Maybe we should address obama being the president of the U.N. Security council? He is ya know...research it yourself. Also, research the dozens of U.N. resolutions against israel that go nowhere, but if Iraq has two or three U.N. resolutions, they get bombed into oblivion...Think about it. They did a great job in Libya also...Libya is now controlled mostly by alciada, and civil war is rampant..Great humanitarian work there U.N. I think thousands are being killed as I type this. Great job their U.N., and great job to obama who is president of the U.N. security council...And Kony? Dear lord, propaganda used only to invade more countries, build a world empire of control and slavery, and steal natural resources... And here I thought NOBODY could be worse than bush...guess I was wrong.

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