national security | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Mass surveillance

Pakistan Press Foundation

NEARLY three months after the terrorist assault that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California, the FBI is still attempting to answer some questions concerning shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik. About two weeks ago, FBI called Apple’s base camp in Cupertino, California: the office needed Apple to help them get through […]


‘Cyber security is a matter of national security’

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: In order to come out of the state of flux with regard to cyber security initiatives in Pakistan, the state needs to look for an ‘imperative policy’ and try not to shoot the messenger by listening to the counter discussion taking place at present, said Barrister Zahid Jamil while speaking at the Pakistan Institute […]


SOURCE OF INFORMATION: PBA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ‘CONTROVERSIAL’ CLAUSE OF DRAFT LAW

Pakistan Press Foundation

Karachi: The Pakistan Broadcasters Association, taking note of recent articles in various newspapers about the Journalists Protection and Welfare Bill 2011, appreciates the steps being considered by the Government to provide social benefits and protection to journalists. Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists with 83 journalists/media workers killed since 1994 according […]


Senate panel to take up bill on journalists’ safety

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee will take up on Monday (tomorrow) a four-year-old bill, aimed at providing protection and relief to journalists, but also containing a controversial clause about disclosure of source of information. The Journalists Protection and Welfare Bill 2011, suggesting steps to be taken by the government to provide social benefits and protection to […]


Investigators look for clues to Mahmud’s murder as free-speech fears grow

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: Investigators have found no match for casings of bullets that killed a prominent human rights activist, dashing hopes for quick answers to a murder that has raised fears for the safety of dissenting voices. Gunmen on a motorcycle attacked activist Sabeen Mahmud, the director of The Second Floor (T2F) on April 24 in the […]


Media used for trial of politicians: Ahsan Iqbal

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has said that state institutions have used media for 35 years for the trial of politicians in a systematic way.He said that good news was no news and 90 percent talk shows were driven from past anger. He said four out of five headlines were of […]


National media

Pakistan Press Foundation

Of all the elements of national power, the media is perhaps the most versatile. It is expansive in its reach and can mould domestic and international opinions. Through print, electronic, information and social media avenues it acquires formidable and multidimensional capabilities to influence target populations. These dynamic faculties of the media must be fruitfully employed […]


Climate change: an existential threat

Pakistan Press Foundation

The much hyped about agreement between the US and China in Beijing towards the end of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is frankly too little too late. Under the agreement, the world’s two biggest polluters, accounting for 42 percent of the carbon emissions in the atmosphere, will undertake to control/limit their emissions. China […]


The reign of hawks

Pakistan Press Foundation

WHAT we are witnessing in Pakistan is a meltdown of the state and society, while hawks, intriguers, instigators, bigots and obscurantists rave it up. Optimists hope that the war between khakis and the media will encourage retrospection, highlight the need for checks and balances to strengthen the vital functions of our media and intelligence agencies […]


PTA out to jam illegal jammers

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Next time your mobile phone call drops or goes bad suddenly, don’t blame just the cellular company. Most probably the culprit may be nearby but hidden – the security jammers. Customers’ ire makes the cellular companies take their complaints to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to identify and locate the cause. The PTA is […]


Initial draft of May 2 probe report leaked

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Jehangir Ashraf Qazi, a member of the Abbottabad Commission, informed the Senate Committee on Defence on Thursday that the inquiry report carried by Al Jazeera last week was the first draft and not the final version submitted to the prime minister. The final copy is said to be a watered down version of the […]


No freeloader journalists on PM’s foreign trips

Pakistan Press Foundation

By: KHAWAR GHUMMAN ISLAMABAD: The government has decided in principle not to bear expenses of journalists belonging to media houses in the private sector accompanying the prime minister on his foreign trips. The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the ministries of information and foreign affairs to inform the media houses that if they are interested […]


Money given to media houses, journalists: SC likely to order making list public

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is likely to issue an order on Monday for making public a list of media houses and journalists who had received government money in the name of national security after it is testified by the information ministry to be a true document. A two-judge bench comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and […]