Landscapes; Cedar Tree's at Broadward, Herefordshire...

In South Pakistan The Sword Is Mightier Than The Pen.

Image copyright; Jim Wood.

Pakistan is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2014 R.S.F (Reporters Without Borders) freedom index.

   The Balochistan province in Pakistan sits on the south-eastern corner of the country neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan. Baloch rebels have been fighting against what they call “illegal occupation by Iranian and Pakistani” armed groups who reportedly commit human rights violations.

   The Balochistan conflict has been ongoing since 2003; the conflict between Baloch nationalists and the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan Province in south-western Pakistan, Sistan and Balochistan Province in south-eastern Iran, and the Balochistan region of southern Afghanistan has gone largely unreported due to the unstableness of the region where Western media are not allowed to go.

   Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported that government forces...military, intelligence agencies and the paramilitary Frontier Corps...have engaged in “kill and dump” operations, targeted killings of opposition leaders, activists and enforced disappearances. A source inside the Panjgar district of Balochistan claims that these groups do not follow the law of the country because they do not trust the judiciary system of Pakistan. Mass graves have been discovered, where the bodies found have been so badly mutilated and decomposed that identification has been almost impossible. According to my source the Taliban are also active in the area. The Al-Qaeda linked radical Islamist group Jundallah are also known to be active in the area.

    From 2002 – May 2014 it is known that 78 journalists have been killed in Pakistan. As reported by Ahmed Rashid a Pakistani journalist writing for the BBC last year; “So many journalists have been killed in Balochistan that there are few honest reports from the province in the national print or electronic media because journalists are too scared. The story of this bloody civil war is going untold... As long as the government stays silent on Balochistan, the longest civil war in Pakistan's history will only create more casualties and break more records for longevity and heartbreak.”

   My source, “Muhammad”...who has asked me to protect his identity... a journalist who works for a respected newspaper in Pakistan and has been nominated for an Agahi Award (Pakistan’s national press award), told me how last year the Taliban came to his home and told him to; “Leave Pakistan or else be ready to die.” They then set fire to his adobe house and left leaving the journalist to deal with the fire. He has been on the run living in hiding ever since. He lives in fear of his life after writing a critical investigative story about money transferring to the Taliban by banks in Pakistan, women’s rights and a critical article about the Pakistani government’s hypocrisy. He says that his colleagues have also been threatened in such a manner and are being killed one by one.

   Outside agencies are unable to help because of the unstable situation in the Baluchistan region, despite many requests from local journalists. One of “Muhammad’s” journalist friends was Irshad Mastoi, he was killed last year in October following threats by Baloch security agencies and militant groups, when two gunmen stormed the offices of the independent news agency Online International News Network in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province and killed Irshad they also killed a trainee journalist called Ghulam Rasool and accountant Muhammad Younus, the gunmen escaped with-out being caught. Before his death Irshad said;

“There is no security for journalists in Balochistan. We lost our many friends but not a single perpetrator of the crime was booked. We are facing constant threats to our lives,”

   "Muhammad" tells me that Mastoi, who was Secretary-General of the B.U.J (Balochistan Union of Journalists), had told R.S.F (Reporters Without Borders) in 2012 that he was in a delicate position, caught between Baloch rebels insisting that his agency carry their statements and Pakistani intelligence service threatening reprisals if he yielded to rebel pressure.

   Unable to secure help “Muhammad” is still living in hiding and fears for his life on a daily basis. “My mental and physical health is being affected, I have no-where to go, no-one to trust and no-one will help me.” He says his contacts have informed him another journalist was shot just last week, although this has not been reported in main stream media.

Sneak Peak; Forthcoming Book...

   Here are some images which will feature in my book; "Herefordshire Then And Now; A photographic journey with Alfred Watkins." Work still continues on this project and things are looking good for completion on the anniversary of Alfred Watkins death on 7th April. Then it will be off to the publishers to start publication. 
   These are some pieces of Alfred's photographic equipment. They are currently held by Hereford Museum at their Learning Resource Center which is on Friar Street in Hereford just a few yards away from the actual site of the Watkins Meter Company. Many people do not even realise there is a museum resource center in Hereford, it's a great place you should check it out if you haven't already.

This is Alfred Watkins' 5"x7" view camera and camera bag.

This is the back of Alfred Watkins' darkroom timer, can any one make out what he has written here?

This was Alfred Watkins' personal darkroom timer, which is actually the one that he invented and his company The Watkins Meter Company based in Friar Street, Hereford manufactured.