CPJ concerned at ban on 3 newspapers in Pakistan
NEW YORK, August 25 2005: The New York-based Council to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over the closure of three publications by the Sindh government and demanded their restoration.
“We are concerned that critical voices could be silenced in the name of safeguarding against religious extremism,” CPJ Executive Director, Ann Cooper said in a statement received here on Wednesday August 24.
The government of the southern province of Sindh banned three Karachi-based weekly newspapers last week accusing them of creating “sectarian extremism and hatred.”
Officials withdrew the publication permits of the three weeklies on August 15 because they published “objectionable material” that caused danger to public safety/order.
Police had already raided the offices of Zarb-i-Islam, Friday Special, and Wajood on July 19, shutting down the publications and arresting several journalists including Wajood editor and publisher Mohammad Tahir, who is still in jail.
“Mohammad Tahir’s safety must be ensured, and he should be released on bail immediately,” the CPJ Director said.
The ban is an effort by President Pervez Musharraf’s government to crack down on Islamic fundamentalist ideology in the wake of the London July bombings, according to local news reports.
Tahir’s application for bail was rejected last week, sources told CPJ. All the other journalists arrested in July, including Friday Special assistant editor Abdul Latif Abu Shamil, have been freed on bail.
Local sources said that Tahir might have been targeted for critical articles he had written about local police and prison officials. They said that Tahir had been abused in jail, and that he was at risk because he was being held with the general prison population.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists condemned the ban and called for Tahir’s release.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:8/25/2005
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
