ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government has given one month’s time to the management of Radio Pakistan to table a plan to bring out the state-run broadcaster from the financial crisis it is currently facing.

The federal government had given directives t lease out Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation headquarters building in the federal capital.

However, the one month relief after a meeting held between Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry , Radio Pakistan management and representatives of employees union.
Employees of Radio Pakistan staged a protest demonstration outside the PCB headquarters and demanded that the government take back its decision otherwise they would lockdown the entire building.

Talking to The Express Tribune an official privy to the development said that the government’s plan to lease out the building is still in place.

He added that the process of compiling a feasibility report on shifting the PCB building to Pakistan Broadcasting Academy (PBA) has been halted by the Radio Pakistan’s internal staff.

Meanwhile, a notification has been issued by the PBC, stating that shifting of the Radio Pakistan headquarters “may please be treated as withdrawn”.

Later on, Federal State Minister for Parliamentary affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told the protesters that “for the time being the government has taken back its decision of leasing out the Radio Pakistan building”.

He said that Radio Pakistan is a much valued institution which played a key role during 1965 war in motivating Pakistani troops.
Khan made it clear that the federal minister for information has asked the Radio Pakistan management for valuable suggestions to improve its performance by November 1.

He further assured them that Fawad Chaudhry would not take any such step without talking Radio Pakistan employees in to confidence.

The Express Tribune

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The News International: Decision to lease out state-run radio building withdrawn

Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) strongly condemns the attack on DIN News Office in Lahore by unknown people. PBA termed this act an attempt to curb freedom of expression and to discourage media from performing its constitutional responsibilities.

PBA expresses complete solidarity with its member channel DIN News against this act of violence and demands from the Government an immediate action to apprehend the culprits. PBA reiterates and urges the Government to take proper and effective measures to provide protection to media. There have been similar attempts on other media houses as well in the recent past, but till now neither the culprits have been apprehended nor has there been any security arrangement made for media.

Business Recorder

He was addressing the launch of Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan’s thesis-turned-book at the Karachi Press Club on Friday. Shaikh said that the book, titled ‘Azaadi-e-Sahafat ki jiddo jehad, akhbari tanzeemon ka kirdar’ (Struggle for the Freedom of Press and the Role of Newspaper Organisations), focuses on the struggles for press freedom in different eras.

“Khan’s book is an addition to Urdu literature and Urdu journalism in Pakistan,” he said.

According to Shaikh the book is a comparative study of the four different unions of journalists in Pakistan. He said that a close study of the book helps one understand the differences in the motives of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC).

“Actually, the book is the ideological debate on the civil and military rule that defines the roles of these unions in each era,” he said. “It shows how the APNS and CPNE have only worked for the freedom of press in civilian governments. In contrast, APNEC and PFUJ have been working for the sake of press freedom since their inception regardless of a military regime or a civilian government.”

Speaking about his book, Khan said that it is a reflection of late journalist Zamir Niazi’s work on the travails of press in Pakistan. “Niazi did the real work, I have just carried forward his research work,” he said.

The former president of PFUJ, Mazhar Abbas, shed light on the current role of the PFUJ. According to him, the union’s motives are not pure and have been affected by vested interests. He said that earlier the struggle of PFUJ was focused on journalists. “Now, PFUJ fights for media houses, not journalists,” he claimed. He said that the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the APNS could never be on the same page because of a clash of interest.

“Khan’s book has painted a perfect picture of the role of the journalists’ bodies for those who have not actually seen the era of real struggle,” said Abbas, hinting towards the era of military dictators Gen Ayub Khan and Gen Ziaul Haq. “However, the book does not provide a current picture of the unions’ role and research should be done in this regard, too.”

According to Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) professor Dr Seemi Naghmana, Khan had summarised all the struggles for the freedom of press in precise fashion. “He has remained neutral while discussing their roles,” she said. Shaikh said that while the pen is mightier than the sword, the book narrates a different story. “Feudalists hijack the pen by hiring journalists, nourishing them and then controlling their entire discourse,” he said. “And this book gives a picture-perfect reflection of those who have fought against such feudalists.”

Express Tribune

The IHC judge said if any cable operator was found violating the directions of the court or Pemra, immediate action should be taken in accordance with the law.The court also asked the Pemra counsel for the compliance of the order by 12:00 (midnight) on Tuesday.

Hearing miscellaneous petitions, the IHC bench observed that if Pemra is helpless in restoring the Geo transmission, its officials should express their inability to do so. The court ruled that the licences of those cable operators who are not airing the Geo transmission should be cancelled.

“The Geo TV transmission has been stopped by cable operators, while circumstances have been creating doubts about the role of a security agency. The court will protect all the constitutional institutions,” Justice Siddiqui observed.

The IHC bench was hearing the writ petition of the Shohada Foundation of Pakistan Trust (SFPT) that it had filed against ARY television for airing defamatory programmes against the superior judges. The IHC bench also heard the contempt of court petition that was moved by the Islamabad District Bar Association (DBA) through its counsel Syed Nayab Hassan Gardezi against ARY television for airing malicious content against the superior judiciary despite the orders of the IHC.

In the SFPT petition on June 11, the same court, through an interim order, had directed Pemra to ensure that “Mubashir allowed to conduct any programme on any TV channel till final decision of the instant writ petition”. The said order was later vacated by the Supreme Court.

Today the IHC bench directed ARY TV anchor Mubashir Lucman “to watch and examine his programme “Khara Sach” and make the statement as to whether it comes within the definition of decency, morality and not as yellow journalism. He was also directed to file his statement as to whether substance aired by him comes within the parameters of code of conduct of Pemra.

Justice Siddiqui directed to issue notices to All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) and Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) to render assistance with regard to the issue agitated through the petition.

During the hearing, Mubashir Lucman undertook to provide contents of the advertisement/other programmes containing the substance violative of code of conduct of Pemra, aired by different TV channels.

In the contempt of court petition of DBA IHC, the order reads, “Mr Mubashir Lucman, anchorperson of ARY news channel, has put appearance and submitted his non appearance from the court was not intentional but due to the fact that he was in UK in connection with routine medical check up. He is directed to file reply of contempt petition in writing before next date of hearing. Mr Sabir Shakir, Bureau Chief of ARY News, informed that Mr Salman Iqbal, Chief Executive of ARY News, has reached from USA to Karachi but his health was not permitting him to further travel to Islamabad, therefore, he could not appear before the court. However, he undertakes that Mr Salman Iqbal shall put appearance on the next date of hearing.”

Hearing the SFPT application, Justice Siddiqui observed that there is an impression that Mubashir Lucman is being provided with substance of his programme by some security agency. Addressing Mubashir Lucman, Justice Siddiqui said, “Do you see your own programme by yourself? See your own programme and tell whether it does fall in the domain of yellow journalism. It is because of you and some other channels that doubts have been created among general public about judiciary and different other institutions. You people have made judiciary a ping-pong ball.” Justice Siddiqui said Geo TV is not wailing in vain that its transmission is blocked at cable. He said everyone is after the state institution. “Everyone is aiming at Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja,” he said. Justice Siddiqui further observed that the Judiciary will protect the sanctity of the state institutions. “We will see how someone would loose talk about the judiciary and the security agencies.”

Justice Siddiqui said the judiciary will inquire from all the journalistic bodies and television anchors whether there exits any code of conduct or not. “Upon misconduct we also take action against our own lawyers,” he further said.

The court after issuing notices to the above adjourned the hearing till September 22.Advocate Ahmad Hassan Rana represented Pemra, Kalsoom Akhtar Advocate represented SFPT and Syed Nayab Hassan Gardezi and Naseer Ahmed Kiani represented DBA IHC.

APP: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered the cable operators to resume the transmission of a private television network that has been suspended from the last few months by midnight. A single judge bench of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui ordered the authorities to suspend the license of those cable operators who were not broadcasting the transmission or changed their respective position. The judge remarked that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) should ensure implementing the court’s orders in its true letter and spirit.

The News

The media persons came under attack while they were covering heavy police teargas shelling on PTI and PAT activists who are continuing their protests police beat up the media persons ruthlessly and also damaged vehicles of seven media houses. The attack on media persons has widely been condemned across the country.

The injured media persons were Khuram Fayaz, Samma TV cameraman; Ajab Khan, Samma TV cameraman; Awais Qazi, Samma TV cameraman; Atif Yousuf, Waqt TV cameraman; Imran Iqbal, Waqt TV cameraman; Mohammad Zahid, Waqt TV DSNG operator; Jameel Kiyani, Waqt TV driver; Essa Naqvi, Dunya TV reporter; Asad Ayub, Dunya TV reporter; Adnan Dunya TV DSNG Engineer; Anjum Fatemi, Dunya TV cameraman; Asif Abdullah, ARY News cameraman; Iqbal Zaib, ARY News cameraman; Kashif Abbasi, DawnNews cameraman; Naushad Abbasi, DawnNews cameraman; Yasir Malik, DawnNews reporter; Samar Abbas, DawnNews reporter; Ashfaq Hussain, DawnNews cameraman; Imran Chaudhry, DawnNews cameraman; Mansoor Ahmed, DawnNews cameraman; Amir Alam, Express News cameraman, Majid Shah, Express News cameraman, Usman Afzal, Express News Cameraman; Rana Tariq, Aaj TV reporters; Haroon Khursheed, Aaj TV cameraman; and Ghulam Ali, Aaj TV cameraman.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Pakistan Broadcasters Association, Hyderabad Union of Journalists, Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists, National Press Club and various other journalist organizations have strongly condemned the incident and demanded action against the police.

On September 1, hundreds of activists of PTI and PAT barged into headquarters of state owned Pakistan Television (PTV). All entrances to PTV headquarters were occupied by protesters as they began to damage the property, working their way through the first, second and third floors. Wires were cut off as protesters entered the panel room.

They took over the programming control room after which transmission was taken off air temporarily. However, the transmission was later restored after the army intervened and expelled the protesters from the PTV building.

The attacks on Sunday and Monday followed attacks on 12 media workers and on media houses in since the start of the protests by PIT and PAT on August 14.

Pakistan Press Foundation

The News

The plaintiff’s counsel, Khawaja Shamsul Islam, submitted that the impugned action was violative of articles 3, 4, 9, 10, 10-A, 14, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 of the Constitution.

He submitted that an emergency meeting of the PBA was held in Karachi on June 13, which took up the issue in view of the statement of defence minister regarding the charges of treason against the plaintiff. He submitted that there was no agenda of the meeting shown in the notice, which was the subject matter of an impugned press release issued by the PBA.

The counsel submitted that despite repeated demands, the minutes of the meeting were not provided to the plaintiff whereas grounds given for the suspension of membership were not mentioned in Clause 13 of Article of Association on the basis of which disciplinary action had been taken by the PBA.

He submitted that the PBA had no jurisdiction to entertain or decide the matter with regard to treason as such an aspect was the domain of parliament or the courts of the law, adding that the defendant PBA cannot be an authority to give any findings on that account. He submitted that a number of proceedings were pending against the plaintiff in many courts and they were facing and defending these proceedings in accordance with the law before all fora, including courts of law.

He submitted that the PBA had membership of 20 to 25 persons as directors but only 10 members participated in the meeting, who passed the impugned order by way of show of hands without giving any copy of the order to the plaintiff. He submitted that the plaintiff came to know about the impugned order through a press release issued by the PBA. The counsel submitted that the participants of the meeting were competitors of the plaintiff and the purpose of the impugned action was only to extract financial and market benefits and to cause damage to the plaintiff financially or otherwise and, therefore, the pretext mentioned in the impugned letters and documents cannot be the basis of action taken against the plaintiff, which is otherwise not correct.

The counsel submitted that such action had resulted in such a way that all the payments, which are according to prevailing arrangements, were routed through the PBA but those payments were against services already rendered by the plaintiff, had been stopped. He said that such payments in any case could not be stopped by any action as it was not visualised in the Articles of Association.

(It should be noted that it takes 3.5 to 4 months in making financial recoveries. So the decision was aimed at bringing a halt to these recoveries.)He contended that damage had been caused to the plaintiff due to the suspension of membership by the PBA as due to the impugned action, all the rights and privileges of broadcaster were being denied to the plaintiff and that too without adopting the due course of law and giving any proper opportunity of hearing. He said that the impugned action was not a simple suspension but had resulted in stigma on the plaintiff and, therefore, it was violative of various articles of the Constitution. He said that no code of ethics had been prepared or circulated to the knowledge of the plaintiff and in such a situation, the consequences of the suspension amount to condemning the plaintiff without being heard. He submitted that the plaintiff had not been served any show-cause notice regarding violation of any law so far and prayed to the court to set aside the impugned decision of the PBA.

The SHC, after preliminary hearing of the lawsuit, issued notices to the PBA as well as Deputy Attorney General and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority for June 27 and in the meantime suspended the PBA’s decision regarding suspension of the membership of Geo TV Network till next date of hearing.

The News

Man ‘confesses’ to murder of mother, sister

LARKANA: A man who earlier claimed that his mother and sister had been killed by his opponents confessed on Wednesday to have killed them himself, the B-Section police said.

The bodies of Naimat Khatoon, 40, and Gulzaran, 25, were found dumped near Seelra village on the outskirts of Shahdadkot on Tuesday and police had arrested the man, Nusrat Ali Chandio, on suspicion of the double murder. The bodies were handed over to his brother.

During his 24-hour detention and interrogation, Chandio told investigators that he killed them for honour, said B-Section SHO Jan Mohammed Samtio.

He said no relatives of the victims turned up to lodge an FIR and, therefore, he registered a case against Chandio on behalf of the state.

He said the suspect told the investigators that he committed the crime with the help of four other persons.

DAWN

http://www.dawn.com/news/1113594/man-confesses-to-murder-of-mother-sister

and unequivocally condemned Pemra’s 15-day suspension of Geo TV.Closing down private independent media by Pemra is not the answer to anything, she said. “Today it is Geo suspended, tomorrow it can be any other channel.

Do not celebrate the death of your enemy, as tomorrow your friend will die too. The only winners are the establishment and the evil forces against democracy, human rights, freedom and progressive thinking.

Tahira said all must work together, in unity and solidarity, to save our hard-won media freedoms, under Act. 19 & 19-A of our Constitution, as it was not handed to us on a silver platter, but was fought for, with blood, imprisonment, torture and severe censorship & hardships.

She said: “I do not condone the several hours of emotive, sensationalist, defamatory telecasting that unfortunately occurred immediately after my brother and dear friend Hamid Mir was attacked in Karachi (I continue to pray to God for his long life and good health), but once the senior management of the Media House (the JangGroup) acknowledged and apologized for this lapse in editorial judgement, there was absolutely no justification for Pemra to act thus. It seems to be part of a personal vendetta, like the one being carried out with such vigour by a rival media group and a few others too. I reiterate that the only victim will be the freedom of the media (both print & electronic) if we start going down this slippery slope.”

This sets a bad precedent, and is unforgivably shortsighted, given our sad history of 34 years of military misrule, out of our 67 years of independence.She asked: “Where are the media unions and the councils in all this?, PFUJ, UJs, APNS, CPNE, PBA, PCP, Press Clubs, etc. We see today the media houses and even media individuals hopelessly divided-and-ruled by cunning establishment tactics, partisan politics, undue politicization, the lure of filthy lucre and favours, and sadly, also by threats, intimidation, kidnapping, torture, killing, ad-revenue loss, and other assaults on the freedom of the media.”

The News

He said the media-related issue would be resolved amicably soon as in the given situation, the issue was not of Geo but of the freedom of expression in a democratic society.

He stated this in an informal chat with media persons after he visited, along with members of the family, the residence of senior journalist Hamid Mir to inquire after him.

The minister recalled how he had resisted when the Supreme Court registrar had pushed for the banning of another TV channel and he had the same policy now that no television channel should go off the air.

About the speculation of the ban on Geo channels, the minister said, “The issue is not of Geo, it is about the freedom of expression in a democratic society and we have bigger issues in our country and all have to find a solution together.”

In this context, he referred to the challenges of terrorism, issues of economy, energy crisis and education and health of children. With regard to the situation arising from the Geo issue, the minister urged the media to bring an end to the infighting.

He confirmed having met representatives of different media organisations, including APNS, CPNE and PBA and his meetings with heads of media groups: Hameed Haroon, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Mian Amir, Zuberi and Mujeebur Rehman Shami.

Asked for his views on the law ministry’s opinion on the issue, he said his ministry had sent its views on the matter to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

“Pemra is an independent institution and let it decide about the issue in its meeting. Neither I nor anyone else should try to dictate it,” the minister maintained.Earlier, the minister, along with his spouse and children, met the bedridden journalist at his residence and remained with him for some time.

“I, along with my family, met Hamid Mir and his family. It was a family get-together. Mir’s health is much better than it was when I met him in Karachi earlier.” Rashid expressed his gratitude to the journalist for gifting him his book and said he felt honoured on receiving the gift signed by Hamid Mir. The book consists of Mir’s columns.

The News

“Pemra is an independent body and the government does not want to interfere in its matters,” he told reporters at the Parliament House.

Senator Rashid, who is also the law minister, said the ministry had forwarded its recommendations on the issue to the information ministry, which would be sent to Pemra.

“The power of decision had been given to Pemra which can give a verdict in accordance with the law and constitution.”

About his recent unscheduled visit to Dubai, the minister said the media crisis had been gripping the nation and it was the responsibility of the government to try and defuse the situation.

“I have met the leaders of Pakistan Broadcasters’ Association, APNS, journalists’ body, the top management of several news channels, so I met the top management of Geo TV network in Dubai,” he said, adding: “We are looking to form a broad-based commission to implement Pemra rulings.”

The minister said such a commission was required because times had changed and there was need for strict implementation of Pemra’s decisions.

“Twenty-two stay orders have been obtained by various TV channels against Pemra decisions. This is not a right precedent and that is why we are trying to consult all stakeholders so that the decisions and rulings of the regulator are accepted and implemented.”

In reply to a question about an ongoing tussle within the media, the minister expressed his sadness over the situation and said that not only was the case going in the wrong direction, but also certain ‘sick-minded people’ had entered the scene.

“The sick-minded people are those who believe in violence and killing those not belonging to their faith or agreeing with their ideas,” he said. “Now there are decrees branding me to be out of Islam. This is not fair,” the minister said.

Pervez Rashid also said that those dragging the name of the armed forces in the current situation were ‘naive’.

“Army is a respectable institution and it is ours. One should avoid those who are engaged in disparaging its reputation,” he said. “The army is not a party. They carry the national flag and not that of any political group.”

Dawn