• May 15, 2014
• Protest Letters by PPF

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), an independent non-governmental institution committed to promoting and defending freedom of expression is concerned over an assault on health journalist, Shishir Morol at a hospital in the capital city of Dhaka. Quoting the information from National Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in a letter to […]

• May 15, 2014
• Freedom of Expression, Front Page

Approaching the third anniversary of the murder of Saleem Shahzad, a Pakistani journalist killed as he investigated the murky relationship between the ISI and Al-Qaeda, little progress has been made with the investigation. In many ways, Shahzad’s case signifies the challenge in Pakistan: brave journalists who face threats from non-state and state actors, and a […]

• May 15, 2014
• General News

Karachi: A correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was beaten up allegedly by a robber in PECHS on Wednesday, said a Tipu Sultan police official. SHO Zulfiqar Haider said Hassan Kazmi was on his way home when a man intercepted him in E-Market situated in Block 6 of PECHS. The suspect held Kazmi at […]

• May 15, 2014
• General News

Though the entire nation is victim of the rising tide of religious extremism in Pakistan the worst sufferers are the minorities. Their places of worship are being ransacked; their men are being lynched on streets and their women converted and married. Not that there is not enough of law on the country’s statute book for […]

• May 15, 2014
• General News

LAHORE: “Agha Shorish Kashmiri was a great journalist who exposed oppression. Journalists today can learn a lot from him,” said Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Wednesday. He was addressing a ceremony to launch the book Shorish Kashmiri Bahasiat Sahafi by Associated Press of Pakistan Regional Director Dr Waqar Chaudhry at Al Raazi Hall. Punjab University […]

• May 15, 2014
• Freedom of Expression

KARACHI: The word ‘torture’ does not appear in the Pakistan Penal Code, even though Section 348 alludes to it as it points to “wrongful confinement to extort confession”. But what if the confinement is not wrongful and what about the (torturous) means used? Regarding that, the law is silent. Pakistan was one of the many […]

• May 15, 2014
• Media Ethics

PERTH, AUSTRALIA: This is in reference to Orya Maqbool Jan’s article, “Secret agencies, media and the national interest” (May 13). This ‘conspiracy mindset’ and a load of irrelevant, adhoc joinery of various ‘happenings’ to manufacture an argument is very common among the ‘experts’ in Pakistan. Such ‘experts’ always look at one side of the coin […]

• May 15, 2014
• Information Technology

THE discovery of 5,000 illegal SIMs held by a recently apprehended terrorist in Karachi, should not have come as a rude surprise to the Sindh Assembly. It is for such occasions that poet Mir Taqi Mir wrote his famous couplet: ‘Jaane na jaane gul hi na jaane baagh to sara jaane hai’. One must also […]

• May 15, 2014
• Access to Information

ISLAMABAD: The Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has welcomed the proposals of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting regarding establishment of an independent and autonomous information commission at the federal level and providing legal protection to whistleblowers. A statement issued by CRCP secretary general Mian Abrar Hafeez praised the committee and […]

• May 15, 2014
• Social Media

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have expanded their online presence with increased use of social media, creating new challenges for thwarting attacks, said a study released on Wednesday. The study released by the Woodrow Wilson Centre’s DC Commons Lab found terrorist groups have moved their online presence to outlets such as YouTube, Twitter, […]

• May 15, 2014
• General News

One way to judge the character of a people is by observing its majority’s behaviour towards minorities. A country which fails to safeguard the basic rights of its religious minorities cannot claim to be civilised. In Pakistan, attacks on members of the minority communities and their places of worship occur frequently, and go unpunished just […]

• May 15, 2014
• General News

NEW YORK: Calling on the Pakistan government to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the assassination of human rights activist and lawyer Rashid Rehman, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that those responsible should be fully and promptly prosecuted. It also urged the government to repeal the “blasphemy law” forthwith. In a press statement, […]

• May 15, 2014
• Media Ethics

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has ordered two Indian journalists stationed in the country to leave within a week after they were found involved in ‘unfriendly activities,’ officials said on Wednesday. Snehesh Alex Philip of the Press Trust of India (PTI) and Meena Menon of The Hindu were officially asked to leave the country by 20 May. While […]