Attack on media widely condemned
KARACHI, March 16: Bodies representing the media have come out with the strongest words against the government over Friday’s attack on the offices of Geo News in Islamabad, imposition of ban on a talk show a day earlier and threats issued to other news channels by the government.
They called for disbanding of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and pointed out that whereas the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had advised the media to refrain only from commenting on the proceedings of the council, the Pemra went many steps further by imposing a blanket ban on the reporting of any event pertaining to the current crisis.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) condemned the ban on a TV show and threats given to other channels, adding that Pemra officials were now misusing their authority and acting like policemen to gag the media.
Leaders of the PFUJ said in a statement that the restrictions were a gross violation of Article 19 of the Constitution, which guaranteed unfettered right of information to every Pakistani.
In particular, the PFUJ condemned the banning of the programme, ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath’, attributing it to the network’s decision to reproduce the ‘unparliamentary language’ used by Law Minister Wasi Zafar against a journalist. Instead of taking action against the minister for bringing the government into disrepute, the statement said, the government decided to ban the programme.
The PFUJ called upon the APNS and CPNE to take a united stand against onslaughts on the media.
The All Pakistan Newspapers Society also condemned the attack on the premises of Jang, The News and Geo TV in Islamabad and criticised the restrictions being imposed on the press.
The APNS said such actions were tantamount to strangling the press and resolved to resist attempts to muzzle the press. It said an emergency meeting of the APNS would be held on Saturday to review the situation.
The standing committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), in a statement, said it was determined to uphold the rule of law and press freedom as guaranteed in the Constitution. It declared that the attack on the offices of a TV channel was an abuse of executive authority, unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. It appealed to the highest judicial authority of the country to take suo motu notice of the incident so that such abuse of authority against the media did not recur.
The committee, at an emergency meeting, adopted a resolution which said that the editors’ community held the judiciary in high esteem and abided by the advice issued by the SJC on the reference against Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Welcoming the assurance by the SJC about press freedom, the meeting deplored the ‘various misinterpretations’ of the SJC directive and the executive measures being taken to suppress press freedom.
The CPNE drew the attention of the SJC to the misuse of executive authority by the government.
The meeting authorised its president to hold consultations with other representative bodies of the media to work out a joint line of action to defend press freedom.
The Pakistan Broadcasters Association said the attack on Geo offices was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan.
“In order to curtail the media coverage, various government functionaries have been misinterpreting the advice on in camera proceedings from the SJC, restricting live coverage and visuals of happenings outside the council hearing the presidential reference against the Chief Justice of Pakistan.”
Faisal Aziz Khan, the secretary-general of the Association of Television Journalists, urged President Pervez Musharraf , Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani to take an urgent notice of the police action.
The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) cited two instances to criticise `direct government intervention’ to harass the media — the censorship of TV coverage of the anti-government demonstrations in the Justice Iftikhar case and restrictions on daily Dawn’s advertisements. “We fear that, in this presidential election year, the independence of the media is going to be under attack from the government.”
Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad also condemned the attack and expressed sympathy with Geo workers. The Governor said no attempt against freedom of the press would be allowed to succeed.
POLITICAL LEADERS: The MQM chief described the Geo attack as ‘diabolical and mischievous’.
In a press release, Altaf Hussain said the nation could not afford disunity in such trying times. He called upon the government to take `immediate action’ against culprits and award them `exemplary punishment’.
Mr Altaf also called for action against officials responsible for mistreatment of Former president Rafiq Tarar, Hameed Gul and other political activists.
Sherry Rehman, a leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, termed the attack the worst example of state-sponsored terrorism. She said the government had now decided to tame the fourth pillar of the state, adding that President Pervez Musharraf, Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani and all those who were criticising the media coverage in the chief justice case, were involved in the action.
ANP’s Sindh President Shahi Syed condemned the action in Islamabad against political leaders and lawyers.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s deputy chief Prof Ghafoor Ahmad said the Geo incident was the `second grave crime’ of the rulers. He said the nation itself would safeguard the judiciary and the media.
MMA’s Sindh chief Maulana Asadullah Bhutto condemned the attack, calling for exemplary punishment to all those involved in the assault.
Ghinwa Bhutto, the chief of PPP (SB), said action against the media had unmasked the dictatorial designs of the rulers.
KUJ MARCH: The Karachi Union of Journalists organised a march from the Press Club to the Governor’s House here on Friday against attack by police on a private television channel’s office in Islamabad.
The journalists staged a sit-in for an hour at the Governor’s House.
KUJ president Shamim-ur-Rahman said the `undemocratic government’ was resorting to unconstitutional measures which posed a threat to national integrity. He condemned the threatening attitude of some federal ministers towards the media.
HYDERABAD: Journalists of Hyderabad took to the streets on Friday evening following police action and attack on the offices of GEO News.
The protesters marched to the SP office chowk, where they staged a sit-in.
Journalist bodies in Mirpurkhas, Shikarpur and Jacobabad brought out processions to deplore the government’s action against the media.
LAHORE: A large number of journalists staged a demonstration here on Friday evening to condemn the police attack on Islamabad office of Geo.
Led by Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) president Arif Hamid Bhatti and Lahore Press Club president Arshad Ansari, they chanted slogans against the government and demanded stern action against those who had ordered police to ransack the television channel’s office and harass its workers.
The South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) also condemned the attack and what it called efforts for imposing censorship on the media.
In a statement issued here, Safma Pakistan president Nusrat Javeed and secretary-general Imtiaz Alam said that after getting panicked over public reaction against the attack on the independence of judiciary, the government was now trying to muzzle the independence of media.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/17/2007
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