QUETTA: Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual report released on Wednesday, with Balochistan a hotspot for violence. Seven reporters were killed in the line of duty in 2013, the report said, blaming the government’s “unwillingness to administer justice”. […]
For the past 15 years, Muqtida Mansoor has been taking his life into his hands simply by writing. His column, which appears twice weekly in the Urdu language Daily Express newspaper based in Karachi, Pakistan, has brought insults and death threats from extremists. The Sunday Edition This has not deterred Mansoor from defending freedom of […]
WHAT a shame that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has stopped the ceremony to launch Malala Yousufzai’s book, I am Malala, at the Peshawar University. Pity the nation that keeps on harping on the supremacy of the constitution but cannot provide security to even a premier university of the country. What signals do we send to […]
By: NADEEM F. PARACHA On Jan 28 this year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government that is being headed by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) and its ally, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), disallowed a launch of Malala Yusufzai’s book at the Peshawar University. The ceremony to launch the book was being organised by the the Bacha Khan […]
Reporters Without Borders regrets that the launch of 16-year-old blogger Malala Yousafzai’s memoir “I am Malala” at Peshawar University’s Area Study Centre in northwestern Pakistan on 28 January was cancelled as a result of pressure from local officials, who cited security reasons. “We deplore this politically-motivated manoeuvre, which violated freedom of information,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, […]
By: Hidayat Khan PESHAWAR: At 10am on Tuesday morning, Imran Khan tweeted that he was at a loss to understand why Malala’s Peshawar book launch was stopped. He said his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) believed in freedom of speech and debate, not censorship of ideas. It was supposed to be a big day for […]
PESHAWAR: Though the decision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to stop the launch of Malala Yousafzai’s book shocked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, yet a minister defended the move. After scathing criticism against PTI-led provincial government in the press and social media, Imran Khan had to intervene to do damage control. “I am at […]
KARACHI: Protests were staged on Monday in different parts of the country, including Quetta, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, against the increasing attacks on journalists by Taliban. Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) has announced three-day mourning against the killing of a private TV workers and attack on the bureau chief of another private TV channel in […]
ISLAMABAD: Social media can play a constructive role by streamlining the development discourse in a demand-oriented, inclusive and people-friendly direction. This was the underlying theme of “Promoting Development Discourse through Social Media”, a moot held at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Monday. Although the use of social media is more common among the […]
Altaf Hussain, a British national, gets live coverage from all private television channels, delivering a speech in which he threatens to carve out a new state, if his demands are not met and yet PEMRA finds nothing wrong with this. Does this qualify as freedom of speech guaranteed by constitution? I am afraid the Constitution […]
Sir: The dastardly attack on the Express Group’s office in Karachi is just the latest reminder that journalists are not safe in this country. The attack was particularly chilling in nature with homemade bombs tossed inside the office premises by armed assailants who then proceeded to open fire. It is lucky that only the security […]
Islamabad: Secretary Information and Broadcasting Dr Nazir Saeed on Wednesday hinted at “good news” of lifting the ban on the popular video-sharing website Youtube in coming few days. Speaking at a conference on “Alternative Media in Pakistan: Opportunities and Challenges”, organised by Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) with the support […]
For two days — November 21-22 — the International Movie Database (IMDb) website was blocked, to the considerable mystification of all, there being no official explanation for the block. The IMDb is one of the most popular websites on the internet, and ranked at number seven on the “Top 10 Must-know” entertainment websites. It is […]
Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), an independent non-governmental institution committed to promoting and defending freedom of expression is concerned over a new law restricting freedom of speech and freedom of the press, enacted by the Hungarian Parliament on 5 November. Quoting the information from Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in a […]
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