Mazhar Abbas honoured by CPJ
NEW YORK (November 22 2007): A leading press freedom body honoured four journalists on Tuesday for their work in countries it said were highly dangerous for reporters, including a former member of AFP caught up in Pakistan’s political turmoil.
Mazhar Abbas, deputy director of ARY One World Television in Pakistan, which was shut down by authorities amid political turmoil in the country, was among the four handed the International Press Freedom Award here by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Abbas is a former Karachi bureau chief for AFP and secretary-general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, where he has led opposition to Pakistan’s military leader, President Pervez Musharraf, the CPJ said in a statement.
“It appears the (Pakistani) government has launched a war on terror against the media,” Abbas told a blue-ribbon assembly at the award ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. “This period of emergency rule is the toughest ever for journalists in my country.”
He said there had been more than 100 cases of violence against journalists in Pakistan, but vowed that the fight would go on and more protest rallies were planned. “Long live the struggle for freedom of the press,” he said.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:11/22/2007
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