Web Desk – Page 194 – Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety

May 5, 2018

Cops-mediamen clash report tabled in Senate: Marriyum

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ms Marriyum Aurangzeb said democracy in the country would not gain strength in an oxygen tent and the government could not be run when it was made dysfunctional and paralysed. She was speaking in the Senate in regards to clash between the police and journalists on Thursday.

Marriyum said she had presented interim report about the incident in the House and the final report would be presented later identifying the people responsible for the episode.

The minister said freedom of speech was being granted by choice notwithstanding the fact that it was not a choice but a fundamental right. She said the most heinous censorship in the history of the country was in vogue at the moment, difference of opinion was being stifled and certificates of patriotism were being awarded by choice.

Marriyum said people were also subjected to mental torture and freedom of speech was allowed selectively. The minister further said the democratic voices were being gagged, opinions of civil society were being suppressed and the articles contributed by the journalists were not being allowed to be published. She said even the voice of the thrice elected prime minister was often muted.

Marriyum said when Bhutto was sent to gallows, the newspapers came out with blank pages. She said the difference after 40 years was that the newspapers were made dumb and the TV channels were being silenced.

Marriyum said she as Information Minister felt ashamed over the permeating situation and had mulled over the prospect of resigning several times. However, she observed that for how long they would continue to resign out of fear and helplessness and prime ministers would continue going home? She asked as to why that phenomenon could not be resisted collectively?

The minister said the situation was so grave that even an article by former Senator Afrasiyab Khattak was not allowed to be published.

She said there were also attempts in the offing to divide the media. The minister lamented that her name was excluded from the committee formed to select chairman Pemra saying that she would be busy in issuing statements therefore she should be removed from the committee.

The News

May 4, 2018

CJP orders judicial probe into alleged manhandling of journalists by police on World Press Freedom Day

Chief Justice (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged manhandling of journalists by Islamabad police a day earlier.

On World Press Freedom Day, which is observed on May 3, a group of journalists had marched towards Islamabad’s D-Chowk to protest restrictions placed on the media.

They were, however, stopped and allegedly manhandled by police posted in the area. After reports of the incident began circulating, the CJP took suo motu notice of the case.

Declaring that the authorities had no right to abuse their power, the CJP said that the journalists’ demonstration did not threaten the capital’s law and order situation.

Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Sultan Taimuri — who appeared in court today — told the Supreme Court (SC) that the journalists were stopped from trying to enter the Red Zone, where demonstrations of any kind are prohibited under Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal code.

Justice Nisar reprimanded the IG for “cheating the law” by imposing Section 144 even though there was no threat to security.

“Section 144 cannot be imposed forever,” he claimed.

“Did the journalists have any stones? Did they break a plant pot?” the CJP asked, saying that it was “inappropriate to raise a hand against peaceful demonstrators and women”.

Justice Nisar further said that Section 144 was a “colonial law”.

One of the journalists who was leading the protest, claimed he had “verbally informed” the deputy commissioner that a group of journalists would march towards D-Chowk. He alleged that the police had stopped the proceedings before they reached D-Chowk.

Speaking to Dawn earlier, journalist Shaharyar Khan said that the deputy commissioner had been informed about the rally, but the police still tried to stop it at China Chowk.

“However, we kept moving as we had to get to Parliament House, but the police manhandled us at D-Chowk. We later went to the Supreme Court and informed the chief justice of the matter, who directed the district administration to submit a reply Friday morning,” he said.

Justice Nisar ordered Islamabad session judge Sohail Nasir to submit a report of the incident within 10 days.

Senate condemns media censorship
During a Senate session on Friday, Senator Raza Rabbani condemned restrictions on the publication of news reports and opinion pieces.

“Is there is a law that imposes restrictions on the publication of news and opinions?” he asked. “If there is one, the house must be informed about it. We should ask why these restrictions are being placed.”

He added that if there was a law that allowed censorship of news, it can be abolished.

Dawn

May 4, 2018

Mediamen express concerns on Press Freedom Day

MIRPUR (AJK) – The World Press Freedom Day was commemorated across Azad Jammu Kashmir on Thursday with the unanimous demand for the grant of complete freedom to the press around the globe.

Special ceremonies were held in various parts of Azad Jammu Kashmir under the auspices of various journalists organisations and press clubs to observe the day which provides an opportunity to the press to recount their outcomes over the previous years.

In Mirpur, major ceremony to observe the day was held in a local hotel here on Thursday. Speakers highlighted its exceptional importance and responsible role in building of a healthy society.

The speakers included senior journalists Sohrab Ahmed Khan, Khawaja Shahid Mahmood, Ali Akhter Salim, Dr. Usman Ghani and Abdul Majeed Chughtai. They emphasized the need of the collective efforts by the international community to ensure the complete freedom of press all over the world particularly in those areas where the voice of freedom was being suppressed.

They said that since press enjoys the status of the fourth and important pillar of a state it was imperative for the governments and the nations to ensure its full freedom for the emergence of better and healthy society.

They observed that it was a matter of grave concern over the recent analytical reports of the world’s journalists forums, Pakistan remained at the 8th number among the nations across the globe this year where journalists were suffering threats during the performance of their professional duties. They demanded of the government to ensure the safety of the lives and properties of the media personnel in the country.

The speakers, however, appreciated that because of the complete free-media policy of the government of Pakistan, the media in the country was today enjoying full freedom as compared to the past. In various past dictatorial regimes, the press had been suffering with various sanctions like censorship, they recalled.

They said that since the press and a nation rise and fall together, freedom of expression was imperative for building of a strong stable and healthy nation.

They criticized the imposition of sanctions on press in certain parts of the world including the Indian-held Jammu & Kashmir state where media was badly suffering the sanctions imposed by the Indian occupation forces including the puppet state government. They pointed out that no foreign journalist from print and electronic media was allowed by the Indian occupation forces to visit and cover the everyday tragic incidents of the killing of the innocent Kashmiris by Indian occupying troops in the bleeding vale of Jammu & Kashmir. The people have stood up particularly over last 19 years for fighting against the unlawful and forcible Indian occupation of their motherland.

Speakers strongly condemned the increased sanctions and restrictions imposed by the Indian occupational forces against the media in the occupied valley, where Kashmiris struggle for freedom is at climax, for past many years. They underlined that India and its stooges in occupied Kashmir were trying to gag media with ulterior motives to snub the voice of freedom struggle by the people in the bleeding valley of occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

They called upon the international human rights and media organisations to take immediate notice of the said sanctions imposed against media by Indian forces in the occupied Jammu Kashmir state and move for getting them lifted without further delay.

The speakers called upon the global organisations of media to take immediate notice of the sanctions imposed on local and foreign media in certain parts of the world including in the Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir with the ulterior motives to suppress their voice in order to conceal the true picture of inside of occupied Jammu Kashmir. No day was left without the tragic incident of killing of the innocent Kashmiris by the Indian occupying forces to quell their ongoing movement for freedom of the motherland from the Indian yoke, they said.

The speakers called upon the government of AJK to get ensured the implementation of the 8th wage board award by the owners of the newspapers of the country vis-à-vis the early grant of the stipulated allowance for the AJK-based correspondents and reporters of various national and regional dailies and periodicals since the 7th wage board award also clearly speaks of the regular payment of the stipulated retainer ship allowance to the newspaper correspondents performing duties in the district and tehsil headquarters in Azad Kashmir.

They also demanded the managing of inter-provincial tours of AJK journalists as well as the holding of the journalism training workshops in all ten district headquarters of AJK by the state government to ensure the quality working by the newspaper and news agencies correspondents in AJK.

They paid rich tributes to such journalists who lost their lives during performance of their professional duties in various parts of the world – in their efforts for upholding and maintenance of the decorum of free press.

Nation

Press Freedom Day being observed today

Islamabad : Today is World Press Freedom Day which will be observed by around the world. There are many countries where freedom of the press is curtailed for various reasons, especially political ones and while the general public thinks there is enough freedom already, the press/media finds itself under pressure from different sources to stick to certain guidelines that are issued from time to time. ‘Freedom’ does not mean that those who are at the helm of affairs in media houses have the right to malign people or abuse their authority but to give facts and figures in the best interest of the people.

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World Press Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organisation or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger. Created in 1997, the prize is awarded on the recommendation of an independent jury of 14 news professionals. Names are submitted by regional and international non-governmental organisations working for press freedom, and by UNESCO member states.

The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano’s writings had offended Colombia’s powerful drug barons.

The News

The Nation: World Press Freedom Day being observed today

May 3, 2018

‘Media persons must be able to perform duties without fear’

KARACHI: On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, I wish to assure the media workers of Pakistan that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will end impunity of crimes against journalists as a manifesto pledge.

This was stated on Wednesday by PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in a message on World Press Freedom Day, which is celebrated worldwide today (Thursday).

It is a sad thought that scores of journalists in Pakistan have been killed or harmed during the last decade and in almost all cases, the perpetrators have escaped prosecution, Bilawal said, adding that this impunity of crimes must end and it will.

The PPP will appoint an independent special public prosecutor to pursue cases of crimes against journalists and create a journalists’ protection fund to assist victim journalists and their families, he said.

Those who attack journalists or commit crimes against them are those who fear freedom of expression and articulation of pluralistic ideas, he believed.

“We will expose these elements and bring them to justice,” he said, adding that the PPP will reverse the tide of systematic erosion of freedom of expression in the name of ideology and national security.

He said that the free flow of information and ideas empowers citizens and this requires that media persons must be able to perform their duties without fear.

Bilawal urged organs of the state to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against journalists.

“I also wish to pay tribute to all those journalists who have braved odds while performing their duties under difficult and dangerous conditions,” Bilawal concluded.

The Express Tribune

CM message on World Press Freedom Day

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said freedom of expression, positive and purposeful journalism were a strong basis of any civilized society.

In his message on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, he said: “Journalism is an important source of establishing public opinion and promoting national awareness. Free press also plays an important role for the supremacy of constitution and strengthening of democracy.

It is also the basic human right and a strong tool to measure all liberties.

He maintained that responsible journalism could prove to be the helping hand for curbing menace of corruption, lawlessness and terrorism from the country.

The chief minister said the purpose of celebrating the World Press Freedom Day was to highlight the importance and significance of freedom of press as well as the responsibilities attached with it.

He said present state of freedom of press had not been rewarded by anyone but it was the result of long struggle of journalists.

“All possible measures are being taken by the government for ensuring the freedom of media as well as keeping the journalist community safe from any kind of pressure,” he said and added provision of protective and safe environment to journalists for discharging their professional duties was one of the top priorities of the government because the PML-N considered freedom of expression as an important part of democracy.

The chief minister said it was the responsibility of the media to guide the people in a right direction by keeping itself impartial.

He said: “Today we have to reiterate that all-out measures will be taken for safeguarding the freedom of expression so that journalists could discharge their professional duties in the best of manner.”

Business Recorder

May 1, 2018

‘Freedom of expression under attack from invisible manipulators’

Islamabad – Pakistan People’s Party leader Farhatulah Babar yesterday said that freedom of expression was under attack from invisible manipulators.

Speaking at a consultation organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan here, he said: “Until now freedom of expression has come under attack from visible state and non-state actors but now invisible and secret manipulators are in action.”

I A Rehman, Afrasiab Khattak, Senator Mir Kabir Shahi, Farzana Bari and Zafarullah Khan also spoke during the consultation.

Farhatulah Babar said when the parties make commitments in their manifestos during the election campaigns “they should also evolve an agreed common charter of human rights underlying protection of most basic fundamental rights and freedom of expression should be the foremost in it.”

Freedom of expression, he said, was fundamental as without it the entire regime of human rights be it the right to life, right to fair trial, right to information and right of association was threatened and gravely undermined.

He said these invisible manipulators were stifling freedom of expression by arm-twisting media outlets, blacking out dissenting voices such as that of Pashtun Protection Movement and proscribing media content without recourse to law and bypassing the legal mechanisms provided for the purpose under the law.

Babar added: “This unlawful manipulation of media content is the most serious and potent threat to freedom of expression.”

He said the appearance of media freedom was an optical illusion which was sustained by the politicians fighting among themselves before full view of the public while any meaningful discussion on state’ narratives was not allowed.

Elaborating, he said, that the media refrained from showing footage of Mullah Mansoor Akhtar droned in Balochistan which was available until after former US President Barrack Obama and the Taliban announced it.

“No meaningful discussion takes place in media on the Guantanamo Bay-like prisons in tribal areas officially known as internment centres, on missing persons, negotiations with Khadim Rizvi leading to surrender by the civilian government society, the voice raised by the PTM and the like. Even discussion in the parliament has been stifled,” he said.

The PPP leader said when the reported allotment of 90 acres of land to a former army chief was raised in the parliament a military news release warned against what it described as maligning the army and creating misunderstandings between state institutions. “The matter has never been discussed in talk shows,” he added.

Babar pointed out that there was no discussion on the mainstreaming of militant outfits, the emergence of Milli Muslim League, the declaration by Jamaatud Dawa to enter electoral politics and parading on media of Ehsanullah Esan the self-confessed murderer of Army Public School Peshawar as a sort of white washed hero.

He said the civil society could pay a crucial role in defending human rights only if there was freedom of expression, of association and of peaceful assembly. However, he said, “their space and that of human rights defenders is shrinking.”

He said political parties may identify human rights issues and also make promises to address them but “it will be hard to implement as long as there was a de-facto state overriding the de-jure state.”

The Nation