Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

I am honoured to be here among such a glittering gathering of intellectuals,

businessmen and journalists. And I am doubly honoured to receive the Golden Pen for
Freedom Award this year. This reflects the commitment and courage of South Asia’s
free media to the perennial quest for reporting the truth and analyzing it without fear
or favour. Last year, 22 journalists died in the line of duty - seven each in India and
Pakistan and two each in Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The toll is 7 killed in
Pakistan so far this year.

It is, however, becoming increasingly difficult for journalists to remain independent

and bipartisan in this region. In the old days, the carrot and stick pressure used to
come from authoritarian governments. But the advent of constitutional freedoms and
safeguards has relieved that source of tension. Indeed, economic growth and rising
literacy has led to higher ad revenues and better work and pay conditions in the
media, and reduced the scope for corruption and bribery by the state. But ironically
enough the rise of the private sector has brought its own set of constraints on
traditional notions of editorship and professionalism. Increasingly, editors are
managers rather than journalists, or journalists who are managers. And an aggressive
corporate sector has replaced the government both as the most significant source of
media revenue and the pressure that goes with it.

There is a second development that merits concern. The 22 journalists killed in South
Asia last year died at the hands of non-state actors. Increasingly, the media is caught
in the cross fire between armed non-state actors and states in the region. This is a far
cry from the sort of repression some of us faced in the 1980s and 1990s. I was
imprisoned by the regime of General Zia ul Haq in 1984 for publishing a book he
didn’t like. I was jailed again in 1999 by the democratic regime of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif for exposing corruption. The nature of the threat in recent times is more
extreme.

The papers I edit have been in the forefront of the war against Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban. Therefore all are the receiving end of credible threats from radical religious
extremists to change their editorial policies which espoused liberal, democratic,
progressive and humanist values. The Taliban forcibly stopped the sale of my papers
in the tribal areas of Pakistan and hurled menacing warnings at us. Taliban supports
have held protest demonstrations against me in Islamabad and Punjab. My family and
I have received letters from the Tehreeke-e-Taliban of Pakistan accusing me of being
a “Western agent” and warning me to return to the “true path of a Muslim”, or else.
Pictures of the severed heads of “American Spies” beheaded by the Taliban have been
enclosed for my benefit. I am one of four Pakistani journalists on the hit list of the
Taliban published prominently in their magazine Tora Bora published from
Waziristan. The others have fled the country. This exhorts Believers to track me down
and eliminate me. A pro-Taliban top "rated" anchor and columnist has written in a
widely read column against me, exhorting the Faithful to silence me for being anti-
Islamic and for espousing a liberal, secular, rational, knowledge-based discourse of
ideas and events. And so on. My family and I live in a constant state of siege, guarded
by eight police commandos round the clock.

I am also a passionate believer in the idea of enduring peace between Pakistan and
India. For this I have been accused of being an “Indian agent” and targeted by various
civil-military lobbies at home. Indeed, I was charged for Treason and imprisoned in
1999 for speaking at a forum in India and criticizing vested interests in Pakistan for
obstructing the path of peace. But I regret to say that the media in both countries
remain entrapped in narrow nationalism and remain part of the problem rather than
the solution. In 1989 when the Indian PM rajiv Gandhi visited Pakistan, the Pakistani
media stopped the Benazir Bhutto government from implementing the far reaching
cultural accords signed between the two sides and the Indian media stopped Mr
Gandhi from settling the Siachin dispute over which an greement had almost been
reached. Much the same thing happened in 1997 when the Indian media stopped the
government of Prime Minister IK Gugral from discussing the issue of Kashmir with
the Nawaz Sharif Government in Pakistan. In 2001 the Pakistani media stopped
General Pervez Musharraf from compromising in Agra. After Mumbai last year, both
media’s put on the war paint and pushed their governments to the brink of war. And
In 2009 the India media stopped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from fulfilling his
commitments at Sharmal Sheikh. The peace dialogue has stalled at critical points
because the media on both sides remains intensely nationalistic and cannot move
away from the sum-zero game in which the region is trapped.

This Award means a lot to me. It means everyone here is watching our backs and
backing our struggles to defend democratic and secular freedoms. But it would mean
much much more if it could advance my dream and vision of everlasting peace in
South Asia. In that sense, it would really mean that we have all struck Gold!

Thank you all so very much.