CPJ concerned over threats to weekly
The Committee to Protect Journalists, New York, in a letter to President General Pervez Musharraf has expressed concern about a recent threat allegedly made by a senior Punjab official to weekly The Independent, Lahore.
Following is the text of the letter: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concern about a recent threat allegedly made by a senior official of the Punjab government to Independent a Lahore-based English-Language newspaper.
On March 10, Punjab Home Secretary Ejaz Shah reportedly telephoned The Independent’s publisher, Ilyas Mehraj and told him, “Enough is enough. The Punjab government has finally decided decided against your newspaper for working against the national interest.” The weekly carried Shah’s comments in an article. Shah denied making these remarks and told the CPJ that he has not spoken to anyone at The Independent during the last week.
However, the CPJ believes that because of the serious nature of the allegations, an official inquiry is warranted. The weekly’s editor told the CPJ that Shah who is a retired army brigadier, former head of the Punjab division on Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, and a close associate of your excellency advised Mehraj to “roll back” the weekly’s operations if he wants to stay in business and stay safe. Shah allegedly criticize the newspaper for writing against the army and warned Mehraj to consider the example of Rana Sanaullah Khan, an opposition politician who has been twice arrested and tortured in official custody in apparent reprisal for his criticism of your military government.
The weekly Independent also reports that the Punjab government has withheld all public advertisements from the newspaper for the past five months. Government advertisements provide a crucial source of revenue for newspapers in Pakistan and have been used by previous administrations to reward and punish certain publications for their political coverage.
The CPJ urges your excellency to order a prompt and impartial investigation into the allegations that Ejaz Shah attempted to intimidate Weekly Independent’s publisher. If Shah did indeed make such threatening remarks, you should request that he resign.
CPJ also respectfully asks your excellency as well as leaders of the Punjab government, to guarantee that all journalists in Pakistan are free to work without fear of political interference or physical reprisal. We will continue to monitor events there closely to ensure that no action is taken against The Independent, its staff, or management.
Source: The News
Date:3/20/2003
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