People vow to defend press freedom | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

People vow to defend press freedom

HYDERABAD- Hundreds of people from all walks of life at a public meeting pledged to defend the freedom of press and condemned the registration of a false case against the editors of daily Kawish.

The public meeting was held under the aegis of the Hyderabad Press Club.

Addressing the meeting, press club president Lala Rehman Samoon and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) vice chairperson Ali Hassan dispelled the impression that the public meeting had been organized exclusively to condemn the registration of false case against the editors of daily Kawish.

They said that the basic purpose of the public meeting was to highlight the problems of the working journalists of Sindh who were being victimized, harassed, intimidated and persecuted by police and militant groups.

The leaders of public opinion from various walks of life, including lawyers, teachers, leaders and activists of various political parties, representatives of Non Governmental Organizaitons (NGOs), HRCP, business community and others attended the public meeting.

The meeting adopted a declaration demanding protection to newspapers and workers associated with the industry to enable them to perform their professional duties without any fear.

The meeting resolved to challenge any excesses by police, irresponsible groups and influential persons against the journalists in every small or big town of the province.

The meeting recognized the fact that the freedom of press was not the exclusive domain or concern of the journalist community but of the entire civil society.

The public meeting also called upon the management’s of all the newspapers to protect the economic interests of the workers by ensuring the implementation of the wage board awards.

It called upon the government to constitute a committee, which should resolve all the issues relating to the excesses against the journalists at the hands of police or other groups. Meanwhile, the Hyderabad district police have deleted the names of the editors of daily Kawish from the First Information Report (FIR) and offered regrets.

Source: Dawn
Date:1/11/2002