APNS Chief flays coercive government steps against press freedom
KARACHI- The President of APNS, Hameed Haroon, has strongly flayed the coercive measures being taken by the government to curb press freedom through a series of anti press laws and actions by the state machinery.
The Government of Pervez Musharraf has not only initiated a major four-pronged attack on press rights through draft laws on Press Council, Defamation Ordinance, Freedom of Information Act and Press Registration Ordinance but has also started issuing arrest warrants against newspaper establishments to implement personal attendance at coercive Wage Board hearings through Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees, all this at a time when the controversial decisions of the Board are in the process of being challenged in superior courts throughout the country.
The situation suggests that the government has earmarked on the path of increasing hostility towards the press which is dangerous for the future of a free press and a democratic dispensation in the country.
Hameed Haroon has announced that a final decision is expected within the Executive Committee with respect to contacting international bodies to apprise them with respect to major recent developments for the freedom of information in the country.
The President has convened an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the APNS on July 16, 2002, at APNS Office, Karachi, to discuss the present state of the government repression of press and the ITNE.
Source: The Nation
Date: 7/14/2002
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