An attack on one journalist is an attack on the public’s right to know. The Federation will treat it that way, every single time.
It is a privilege to address you as Chairman of the Pakistan Journalist Federation. This organisation was built by working journalists, for working journalists — and that remains the only mandate we answer to.
Our profession carries a cost in this country. Colleagues have been threatened, detained and harmed for doing nothing more than reporting what they saw. The Federation exists so that no journalist faces that alone. When a member is attacked, our legal aid cell responds; when a family loses its earner, our welfare fund responds; when the state or an employer oversteps, we respond publicly and on the record.
But defence is only half the work. A free press also depends on the standards we set for ourselves. Accuracy, fairness and independence are not obligations imposed on us from outside — they are the source of our credibility, and the reason the public listens when we speak. Our training programmes exist to strengthen exactly that.
To every reporter, photojournalist, camera operator and desk editor working across Pakistan: the Federation is your platform. Bring us your concerns, hold us accountable at the general body, and take part in the chapters that represent you. We are stronger in proportion to how many of us stand together.
My commitment to you is straightforward — transparency in how this Federation is run, urgency when a member is in danger, and persistence in pressing for the legal protections our profession has been owed for far too long.
With respect and solidarity,
Wajid Abbasi
Chairman, Pakistan Journalist Federation