Brief Introduction

Trial and tribulations are not new things for journalists but after the tragic incident of 9/11, the troubles increased manifold for media persons in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The incidents of journalists' harassment, kidnapping, attempt to murder, snatching of their vehicles have become very common in both these countries. Till now over one hundred journalists have been killed in the country and of them 19 belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 12 in Fata. The Journalists Welfare, Safety and Development Foundation (JWS&DF) is a non-profit, nonpolitical humanitarian organization. The foundation was established in 2011 by a group of senior journalists, office bearers of Peshawar Press club and Khyber Union of Journalists. The foundation has been primarily established to provide humanitarian assistance to the orphans and widows of media professionals, who are martyred in the line of duty while serving the print and electronic media in Pakistan. The foundation was registered (1655/157491) in November 2012, under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 with joint stock companies and societies, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. It is a country level organization but its base is Peshawar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has nothing to do with trade unionism but focuses on welfare of journalists and their families.

Besides providing assistance to the journalists, the foundation aims to assist other communities in getting access to clean drinking water, educational facilities, healthcare service, vaccination against different fatal diseases, conservation of forests, wild, aquatic life, increase agriculture productivity, save livestock from epidemics, save local culture, environment, preserve national/cultural heritage and encourage self employment.

Mission and working area:

The foundation serves the marginalized and down trodden communities irrespective of their creed, colour, nationality, religion, ideology, region and political affiliations. The foundation has been established which focuses to serve the vulnerable media persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata in particular and other provinces in general. It provides assistance to the aged, sacked, ailing colleagues and to support the families of deceased media persons. The foundation has plans to formalize strategies for providing assistance to the families of deceased journalists who have been killed in other parts of the country while performing duties.