Every independence day, I take some time to think again about the creation of the country, not whether if it should have been created or not — that’s a rather moot point now — but the reasons behind its creation, and the hopes and aspirations it brought with itself. I remember how the 15th of […]
IMRAN Khan has been given a contempt-of-court notice to explain why action should not be taken against him for, if I am not wrong, uttering some words against the judges. What I wish to know is whether there is anything like freedom of speech in this country and why the PTI has not used this […]
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) informed the Peshawar High Court on Thursday that in Sept last year, it had initially blocked around 2067 websites carrying a blasphemous movie, but due to excessive uploading of the movie it completely blocked a social media website, YouTube, on the order of the ministry of information technology (MoIT). […]
By: Hassan Naqvi When someone joins the press, they somehow automatically inherit a sense of freedom. They gain access to exclusive parties and private functions. Journalists can get anywhere. Thus, the freedom often leads to a little or a lot of information flow. The freedom of a journalist is the freedom of information. Information is […]
THE recent leak of Abbottabad Commission report escalated the political temperature and inundated talk shows with a new debate. The script, which surfaced, though critical of military intelligence agencies, didn’t fix the responsibility, unambiguously, on one institution. However, the leaked text of the report categorically highlights the civil-military imbalance, and brings to limelight the incapacity […]
FREEDOM of information is a fundamental human right, the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the UN is consecrated. (Resolution 59 (1) of the UNGA) The main theme behind the concept of freedom of information is that public institutions have an obligation to disclose information and every member of the public has a corresponding […]
By: Aziz Ali Dad Untimely meditations “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” – Soren Kierkegaard Living in today’s world, we cannot aspire for the kind of freedom enjoyed by the Greeks, whose cultural ethos and intellectual outlook was averse to labour and vocation which […]
By: ZUBEIDA MUSTAFA THE two-member media commission’s recommendation for consultations on the review of all media laws and codes could not have been more timely. The fact is that lately a lot of concern has been expressed vocally by discerning observers about the damage the media is inflicting on our society. Any forum, which is […]
By: Asma Jehangir History shows that every wave of change, be it political, social, economic, humanistic or philosophical, has had its roots seeped in intellectual contemplation and this job is done by the brains of the society who ponder over wavelengths of time — past and future — for the sake of general masses. Professor […]
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government Sunday offered unconditional apology to journalists and announced judicial inquiry into the thrashing of media men by doctors at the Khyber Teaching Hospital. A government delegation led by provincial Minister for Public Health Shah Farman visited the Peshawar Press Club to express concern over the doctors’ high-handedness against journalists and […]
RECENTLY, I attended a workshop organised by Shehri, a Karachi-based NGO. The workshop was about the ‘Right to Information and Freedom of Information’ . We were informed that a common citizen is empowered to access all information held by the government (except for the sensitive one) through Article 19A of the Constitution of Pakistan. The […]
PESHAWAR: Journalist here on Saturday blocked the Sher Shah Suri Road to protest the torture on their colleagues, criticised the doctors and paramedics of the Khyber Teaching Hospital for taking several journalists hostage and demanded judicial inquiry into the incident. The protesting journalists led by Peshawar Press Club President Nasir Hussain and General Secretary Yousaf […]
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has directed the information department to finalize the draft of the proposed. Access to Information Bill as soon as possible so that it could be approved from the competent forum and enforced without further delay to ensure transparency in the government departments. He has also directed the concerned […]
Sir: According to reports, the Pakistan government has started using Netsweeper filters to block websites that are politically, religiously and socially controversial. Netsweeper is a Canada-based system of internet filters and is now, reportedly, being actively used at the national level in Pakistan. This is the next step in the war against internet freedom. It […]
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