Media told not to publish banned groups’ statements
By Amanullah Kasi
QUETTA: Expressing dismay over the propagation of the views of organisations banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) directed the media on Tuesday not to publish the statements of such groups.
The bench – comprising Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Abdul Qadir Mengal – issued the directive while hearing suo motu the Sept 20 Mastung incident in which 26 members of the Hazara Shia community were gunned down.
The court in its interim order said the press should only publish a statement of a banned organisation claiming responsibility for some incident and restrained it from publishing propaganda statements. The bench said if the press felt aggrieved at the order then its representatives should appear before it with their submissions.
Deputy Attorney General Malik Sikandar Khan and Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kanrani submitted reports of the Commandant Kalat Scouts and Mastung Levies Force on the sectarian attack.
Expressing dissatisfaction over these reports, the court said no concrete progress had been made in the case and asked the Frontier Corps to cooperate with the CID team to accelerate the investigation process.
The court ordered that another notice to Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jehangir be issued and a reminder to the International Commission of Jurists be sent asking them to help it determine whether it had the authority to take suo motu notices.
The hearing was adjourned to Oct 18.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/5/2011
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