Vigorous drive for democracy, press freedom stressed
KARACHI, Nov 15: Speakers at a seminar on the imposition of emergency and media curbs urged the journalist community, legal fraternity and members of all other civil society organisations to launch a joint struggle for the restoration of democracy and the constitution as it stood before the Oct 12, 1999 coup staged by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The seminar, organised by the Karachi Union of Journalists at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, was attended by a large number of media men and civil rights activists. Those spoke on the occasion included former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, Minhaj Burna, KPC president Sabihuddin Ghausi, Anees Haroon, Mehmoodul Aziz, Shafiuddin Ashraf and Idrees Bakhtiar.
Justice Wajihuddin said the illegal and unconstitutional measures announced on Nov 3 were primarily aimed at decimating the judiciary so as to get a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court on the controversial re-election of Gen Musharraf as president.
“The SC judges, who took an oath under the PCO, will soon come up with a ruling validating Gen Musharraf’s re-election and legitimising the election process,” he predicted, regretting that incompetent judges had been inducted into the apex court through the PCO.
He said the regime had imposed curbs on the media so that its illegal and unconstitutional acts could not be exposed to people.
He demanded formation of an impartial election commission for a fair election and restoration of the constitution as it stood before Oct 12, 1999. He said that there must not be any further amendments to the constitution.
Veteran trade unionist Minhaj Burna said the core issue of the country was the restoration of a true democracy. “We cannot progress in any sphere of life under a military rule,” he observed, and stressed the need for chalking out a joint strategy against the imposition of emergency and curbs on the media. He also suggested that newspapers should observe a country-wide strike and suspend publication for one day against the illegal and unconstitutional acts of the government.
Anees Haroon of the People’s Resistance said that a broad-based front was the need of the hour and members of civil society must join hands with the legal fraternity and the media in their struggle for the supremacy of law and freedom of the press.
The KUJ general secretary presented four resolutions on behalf of the All-Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation (APNEC), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).
The resolutions condemned imposition of emergency on the country and restrictions on the media, especially news TV channels. The resolutions also slammed the government moves aimed at depriving people of their right to information and demanded restoration of all private radio and TV channels. One of the resolutions adopted at the gathering demanded implementation of the seventh wage award for newspaper industry workers.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/16/2007
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