Conflict in Balochistan: Freedom of Speech, Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate the working conditions for professional journalists in Balochistan. It explores the available opportunities for journalists who perform their duties in conflict zone under life threatening conditions. In Balochistan, religious and ethno-political factors have intensified manifolds in the last ten years and reporting on these issues has claimed lives of many journalists. Since this issue has been raised by a sizeable segment of civil society, in general, and by journalist community, in particular, therefore, learning the root causes of underlying threats to journalist has acquired a particular salience. This paper, on the basis of collected data, seeks to discover the level of professionalism among the journalists as one of the potential causes of problem and develops a number of recommendations to help journalists reduce the element of risk in reporting issues of conflict