Newsmen denied access to list of candidates
MIRPURKHAS, August 07 2005: The office of the Assistant Election Commissioner (AEC) here has tersely refused to provide a final list of candidates to mediapersons, declaring it as a “top secret document”.
The local journalists belonging to print and electronic media had requested AEC Mirza Amir Haider for a final list of candidates in the run for the local bodies (LB) polls. Despite repeated requests and attempts by them to convince him, the election officer refused to give any detail to the journalists, saying the document was a “top secret” and cannot be given to “any body”.
“You may contact the Election Commission of Pakistan for this as I am not authorised to do so,” he said, adding that he does not think the mediapersons really need the list of candidates. The attitude of a senior officer created confusion among the journalists who have called upon the chief election commissioner for clarifying the actual position as whether it was the policy of the commission because under the prevailing circumstances the journalists feel hurdles in performing their professional duties while election-related important information was being denied to them.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Mirpurkhas Union of Journalists attended by a large number of newsmen has strongly condemned the attitude of the local office of the Election Commission that was intentionally or unintentionally causing doubts on the whole election process while the commission and the government say it is a transparent election.
Source: The News
Date:8/7/2005
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