Protests against Geo blockage continue | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Protests against Geo blockage continue

ISLAMABAD: The media persons from across the country continued their protest in the strongest terms against the blockage of the transmission of Geo News and other channels and against the attacks on the offices of the Jang Group and burning of copies of the Jang and The News on Wednesday.

In Islamabad, the journalists gathered in large number in front of the Geo and The News

offices and chanted full-throated slogans against the gross goondaism of the PPP activists and government’s utter apathy to take action against the culprits involved in attacking the Jang Group offices and burning of the copies of the groups’ newspapers in Karachi and in Sindh.

In Rawalpindi, the media person staged a sit-in in front of the Jang office to press for their demands to immediately restore the transmissions of the Geo and other channels. They expressed their resolve that they frustrate every effort to intimidate and gag the journalists.

Our correspondent from Quetta adds: The media persons continued their protest against the suspension of transmission of Geo TV and other TV channels in various parts of the country on third consecutive day.

This time, the protest was held under the auspices of Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) in front of Press Club, in which a large number of the media persons from print and electronic media participated.

The media persons carrying banners and placards with black strips around their arms chanted slogans against suspension of the transmissions of some private TV channels.

Speaking on the occasion, the President BUJ, Abdul Khaliq Baloch, senior journalist and former President Quetta Press Club, Shahzada Zulfiqar, Haji Muhammad Ajmal and others lashed out at the government for what it termed unwarranted and unjustifiable move of gagging media by suspending the transmissions of the private TV channels and burning of the newspapers of a leading newspaper group in Sindh by some unruly protestors belonging to the ruling political party.

They said that those who wanted to impose ban on the media must know that they would not succeed in their designs as gagging media was tantamount to obstructing the freedom of expression and thus democracy, which would not be tolerated.

They also said that the rulers should learn lessons from the past and mend their ways in their best interest and of course for the cause of democracy. They said that the media could not be prevented from highlighting the truth and those real issues confronting the common men.

Our correspondent from DI KHAN adds: The members of the Dera Press Club staged a protest rally to condemn the closure of Geo TV transmissions in parts of the country and burning of the copies of Jang and The News. The protesters led by President of the press club Imran Hafeez were chanting slogans against the government and calling for freedom of speech and expression.

Aslam Nigar, Qayyum Nawaz Babar, Saeedullah Marwat, Muhammad Yasin Qureshi and Latifur Rahman in their speeches said the journalists would never stop reporting the truth. They came down hard on the government for taking coercive measures against media outlets and said that they would not hesitate to offer sacrifices for the freedom of media.
Source: The News
Date:8/12/2010