Interior Sindh journalists’ hunger strike enters third day
SUKKUR: The hunger strike of print and electronic media journalists entered the third consecutive day on Monday to protest against the imposition of emergency rule, PCO and ìdraconianî laws framed by the government to curb the freedom of the press.
The hunger strikers include senior journalist Mushtaq Gillani, president Sukkur Press Club Khawaja Jawed Ahmed, president and general secretary respectively of Sukkur union of journalists Lala Asad Pathan and Shahid Ali, Asif Lodhi, Omar Soomro, Nasrullah Waseer and Imdad Bozdar.
The hunger strikers raised slogans against the anti-press laws, and declared their determination to carry on their struggle for undoing the same. According to an SPC spokesman the token hunger strike will continue for the next seven days.
On Monday leaders of many political and social parties, office-bearers of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and NGOS visited the hunger strike camp to express their solidarity with the journalists.
Those who visited the camp include PPPP leaders MPA Dr Mehreen Bhutto and Samina Aftab, joint secretary Sindh High Court Bar Association Zahida Lanjar, Maulana Hizbullah Jhakro and Musharraf Qadri of MMA and others. Meanwhile, a resolution adopted in a joint meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and District Bar Association, Sukkur Press Club and Sukkur Union of Journalists, held at the bar room of the Sindh High Court Bar Association on Monday under the joint presidentship of president SPC and general secretary SHBA Shabbir Shar observed that the recent curbs on media would be remembered in the history of Pakistan as the worst chapter, through which the country was being pushed towards the stone age, while bringing a bad name to it throughout the world.
The meeting was held to express solidarity with the journalists of print and electronic media on a call of the Pakistan Bar Council. Speaking on the occasion, President Sukkur Press Club Khawaja Jawed Ahmed lauded the untiring efforts of the legal fraternity in the struggle for the freedom of the judiciary and vowed that the journalists would struggle shoulder to shoulder with the bar. He said like in the past, the bar and media would jointly struggle for the freedom of the judiciary and the press.
Shabbir Shar strongly condemned the curbs on the press, saying while the rest of the world was providing more freedom to the press, the government of Pakistan was trying to gag the media, under vested interests.
He said at this time of crisis the lawyersà community would not leave the media people alone and would jointly struggle for the freedom of the judiciary and the press. In Nawabshah the local journalists staged a protest demonstration against the closure of the Geo News and ARY TV channels.
The journalists wore black armbands and hoisted black flag atop the Nawabshah Press Club (NPC) building. In a joint statement, the NPC office-bearers condemned the ban, saying it was an attempt to gag the common man.
They said it also exposed the governmentÃs claims regarding freedom of expression. The whole world has realised the type and style of the freedom of expression the government claims to have given to the people, they said. They demanded immediate lifting of the ban on the two TV channels.
Journalists from Shikarpur, Naushahroferoze and Larkana observed token hunger strike in Khairpur on Monday against the shutting off the transmissions of the Geo News and ARY One World by the government.
They also held an emergency meeting, which was chaired by Zamir Hussain Lashari. The meeting condemned General MusharrafÃs decision of banning the transmission of the TV channels. They also slammed the government for pressurising the administration of the channels.
The speakers said the channels were telling the truth through their talk shows and political analysis. The journalists vowed that they would not accept dictatorial orders and would continue to bring forth facts for the people.
In Hyderabad, the protest against the imposition of emergency rule continued on Monday and lawyers boycotted the court proceedings, demanding an end to curbs on media and the judiciary and reinstatement of deposed judges. The legal fraternity also observed a day of solidarity with the media community over the closure of Geo and ARY television networks.
The Awami Tehreek (AT) continued its fill the jails movement against the state of emergency and curbs on the judiciary and media. Four party activists courted arrest.
Pakistan PeopleÃs Party leaders Zahid Bhurguri, Aftab Khanzada and Jendo Soomro have been released from central prison Hyderabad after their bail application was accepted and a good number of workers of PPP received them outside the prison. In Khairpur, Senator Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro demanded restoration of Geo News transmission.
Addressing a press conference at the Madrassa Jamia Hamadia here Soomro said Gen Pervez Musharraf is promoting Western culture in this Islamic country and he is also patronising some TV channels spreading obscenity but he banned the transmission of Geo News which is purely a news channel and which was conducting accountability of the politicians and rulers.
Source: The News
Date:11/20/2007
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