Tag: Media Freedom

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Govt committed to ensure media freedom: President

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Press Council of Pakistan led by its Chairman Raja M. Shafqat Khan Abbasi called on President Mamnoon Hussain in Islamabad Thursday. The chairman PCP briefed the president about role‚ mandate‚ activities and achievements of the Press Council of Pakistan.

President said the government recognises and respects the critical role of the media as a fourth pillar of the state. He reiterated Government’s firm commitment towards ensuring freedom of the media and facilitating journalists and media practitioners in pursuit of their professional duties.

The President said that media has important role to play towards socio-economic development of the country, strengthening democracy, promoting good governance and complementing efforts aimed at overcoming the existing challenges. The President during the meeting also highlighted the various efforts and steps being taken by the government to address the challenges at various fronts and expressed hope that sincere efforts of the Government would result in peace, stability and progress of the country and resultantly socio-economic prosperity of the people of Pakistan .

The President appreciated the efforts of Press Council of Pakistan towards ensuring highest professional and ethical standards of newspapers and news agencies and implementing the Ethical Code of Practice for the press while upholding the freedom of media in the country. Chairman PCP, Raja M. Shafqat Khan Abbasi presented to the President the annual report of the Press council of Pakistan. The President later also hosted lunch for the members of the Press Council of Pakistan.

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Pakistan and Mexico worst places for journalists: Columbia Dean

NEW YORK: Dean of Columbia University’s Journalism School, famous American author and journalist Steve Coll, while lauding the bravery of the Pakistani journalists working in the worst violence-hit part of the world, has said that Pakistan and Mexico are the worst places in the world for journalists.

“Journalists in Pakistan are another emerging professional core of the country I believe that Pakistan along with Mexico are the worst countries for journalists,” said Steve while talking to a group of eight select journalists from Pakistan during their visit to the Columbia’s Graduate Journalism School the other day.

According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), since September 2001 51 Pakistani journalists have been killed. Media organisations in Pakistan often raise voices on the security of the journalists in Pakistan too.

Steve Coll who has authored more than half a dozen books including Ghost Wars and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. Coll was named to head the Journalism School of Columbia last year.

Steve has extensively traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for his journalistic adventures, avoided making any comment on the professional standards of the journalists working in this South Asian country saying, “he can’t comment on this as he is not following the Pakistani media these days”.

When asked about his views on Osama Bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, he said that there is still need for a lot of journalism on the issue of Osama Bin Laden’s secret hideout in Abbottabad.

“There are open questions yet whether Musharraf knew about Osama’s presence or not. There is likelihood of a small cell that may have known about Osama, but no hard evidence has surfaced yet, and there is need for a lot of journalism on this,” said Steve while

When asked if he believes that Osama was hosted by the elements of Pakistani establishment, he narrated an incident saying that he met a senior Pakistani General who told him that the attackers of the General Headquarters (GHQ) kept planning the attack for almost three months under the nose of the GHQ but they could not know their plan.However he said that there are open questions yet which require proper answers and there is room for more journalism on them.

The News

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Rangers take away journalist’s licensed gun

Rangers take away journalist’s licensed gun

Karachi: A journalist associated with the Jang newspaper was manhandled by Rangers during a raid in Sultanabad and had his licensed gun taken away on Tuesday.

The paramilitary force had raided the area in the morning as part of the ongoing operations in Karachi. The Rangers entered the house of the journalist, 49-year-old Ajmal Khattak Kashar. When the reporter protested with the Rangers for not bringing a woman officer, they manhandled him. Kashar was told that as journalists wrote about the Rangers, it was necessary for the law enforcers to search their homes too.

The Rangers also took away his licensed pistol without giving any receipt of the seized weapon. “The search warrant did not allow them to walk out with the licensed weapon. They clearly violated the search warrant,” Kashar said. The journalist believed his house had been raided because he was writing extensively about the ongoing operation in Karachi.

The News

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PFUJ condemns killing of journalist Afzal Khawaja in Usta Mohammad

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the killing of Journalist and Member PFUJ Afzal Khawaja in Police firing at Usta Mohammad, Baluchistan.

In a statement, PFUJ President Rana Azeem said the ongoing violence in Balochistan was a matter of concern. The journalists were particularly at risk in the province and a number of journalists and media persons have lost their lives in the line of duty.

PFUJ Secretary-General Amin Yousuf also condemned the incident. “We will not tolerate government’s continued apathy to the loss of precious lives. We demand immediate arrests of Police men involved with commendable punishment,” he added.

Amin Yousuf condoled with the families of the slain journalist and called upon the provincial government to take appropriate measures.

PFUJ

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Media freedom part of Pakistan People’s Party manifesto: Kaira

qamarzamankaira

DINGA: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Sunday said that the PPP would seek people’s votes on the basis of its manifesto.

Speaking after administering oath to the newly elected office-bearers of Media Council here, Kaira said the PPP-led government had launched several development projects in the country which were the right of the people.

He said journalists were playing a vital role in creating awareness in the society. Freedom of media is part of the PPP manifesto and that is why there is no restriction on media in the country today, he added.

He said in other countries media organisations were closed down for publishing baseless reports, but here in Pakistan the situation was other way round. He said instead of enacting laws, the government provided media organisations an opportunity of self-accountability and the formulation of ethics code for media persons was being discussed today.

He urged the media persons to play their due role during the election process as their responsibilities increased manifold.

He said the PPP had ended the politics of hatred and introduced that of reconciliation, which was evident from the fact that there was no political prisoner in the country today.

He said elected people deserved due respect. Politicians could be political rivals but they were not enemies of one another.

He said that there was a dire need of tolerance in the society.


Pakistan Press Foundation

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2013 World Press Freedom Index- Pakistan

Reporters Without Borders

151 out of 179 in the latest worldwide index

The press is caught in a vice between the Taliban which has stepped up its attacks and the security forces who continue in their old ways of harassing journalists. The country has scores of privately owned television and radio stations, putting it on the path of an information revolution comparable to that experienced by India about ten years ago. The media is increasingly belligerent in its coverage of political and socio-economic problems, despite the huge risks.

PAKISTAN PRESS FREEDOM BAROMETER 2013

3 Journalists killed
0 media assistants killed
0 journalists imprisoned
1 media assistants imprisoned
0 netizens imprisoned

The Taliban offensive and the political upheavals shaking the country have led to ever harsher repercussions for journalists. More journalists have been killed so far in Pakistan in 2009 than in any other country. There has been an upsurge in attacks on the media and press clubs in the tribal areas, but also in Balochistan and sometimes in the big cities.

Though the 1973 Constitution guarantees press freedom, the law still contains a number of articles allowing journalists to be sentenced to prison terms for offences including “defamation”, “immorality” and insulting Islam or the sovereignty of the country. Even though no journalist is currently in prison for this reason, it is not unusual for reporters to be “questioned” for several hours by the secret services.

President Asif Ali Zardari, who heads a government loyal to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has put an end to the policy of harassment and systematic censorship of General Pervez Musharraf. But when faced with political tension, the authorities always have the same reflex of resorting to censorship. They deemed it necessary in March 2009 to block television news channels Geo News and Aaj while they were covering demonstrations by lawyers.

Authorities in Islamabad have abolished some draconian edicts inherited from Pervez Musharraf, but they have not, for example, given its independence to the broadcast media regulatory authority.

Journalists have been forced into self-censorship in the Swat valley where the government agreed to the application of Sharia law demanded by the Taliban in exchange for a halt to the fighting there. They have fallen victim to the terror sown by the Taliban through their illegal FM radios. It was in this valley that journalist Mosa Khankhel was brutally murdered in 2009, while he was actually covering the peace agreement.

The very few journalists in the tribal areas are at the mercy of the Taliban who try to get them to report favourably on their “Jihad”, while the army and local authorities react badly to any news reports suggesting failings in the “war against terror”. Scores of journalists in the district of Bajaur, caught between a rock and a hard place, have fled the war. Those who remain are threatened. One journalist threatened with death through a fatwa pronounced on him said, “I cannot leave my home for fear of being kidnapped or killed. I am living cut off from the world.” Tracts have been circulating in the Waziristan tribal area threatening to kill those who work for foreign media.

The international press is kept away from these border areas infested with Jihadists and gangsters. Indian journalists are not always welcome in Pakistan, as evidenced by ill-treatment meted out by soldiers in plain clothes to a team from NewsX in Lahore in February 2009.

The Pakistan army, particularly the secret services secrets (ISI and Military Intelligence) threatens journalists who report on abuse of authority and on disappearances, particularly those of hundreds of Balochistanis that occurred under the Pervez Musharraf regime. It is difficult to investigate safely in Balochistan, Pakistani Kashmir and the tribal areas. Baloch journalist Javid Lehri was held and tortured by military police, while Baloch businessman Munir Mengal was secretly detained for nearly two years by military intelligence for trying to set up the satellite television channel Baloch Voice.

The situation is deteriorating in Balochistan where Islamist groups and sometimes the security forces target supporters of the Baloch cause like Jan Muhammad Dashti, editor of the daily Asaap, published in Quetta, who escaped a murder attempt at the start of 2009. His newspaper is denied all government advertising.

There has been total impunity in cases of murder of physical assault on journalists. No assailant has faced any police questioning for at least the past four years. The authorities have refused to release the results of an investigation carried out by a judge into the kidnapping and murder in the tribal areas of photographer Hayatullah Khan.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) regularly condemns the appalling salaries and conditions of journalists, which can undermine their independence.

As news websites grow in popularity and influence, the government makes use of a harsh law to punish “crimes” committed online, particularly the posting of content that is hostile to it. It blocks some opposition websites and in particular those involving the Baloch community.

Pakistan Press Foundation

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Zardari takes pride in upholding media freedom

Zardari

By: Shoaib A Raja

Kaira reaffirms commitment to freedom of expression

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday took pride in upholding media freedoms and showing tolerance for dissent.

He said, “We have extended the hand of friendship to all political forces, to the media and all stakeholders as well and we feel satisfied that this policy of the government has started paying dividends. He said the government is earnestly addressing issues of media freedom and in this regard a Press Council has been set up and its chairman has been appointed. It is now for the Press Council to move forward and move fast in consultation with all stakeholders,” he added.

President Zardari said this while addressing the opening ceremony of the state-run TV’s English channel. He said Pakistan was a democratic and peace-loving country and its people are hospitable, courteous and hard-working. He urged the need for projecting these characteristics of Pakistanis and positive and soft image of the country at national and international level. He said that independent media was a guarantor of human rights, freedoms and liberties and its role was critical in furthering democracy.

Commenting on the freedom of information, he said that the Ministry of Information has taken the ownership of the Freedom of Information Act as the government believes in providing genuine access to information for the sake of transparency and accountability.

President Zardari expressed confidence that a Senate sub committee and the Ministry of Information are already working on the draft of Freedom of Information Act in consultation with all stakeholders to repeal the old Ordinance of 2002, and bring in a new Act of the Parliament. He directed the Ministry of Information to expedite finalisation of the Bill and table it in the parliament at the earliest. He stated that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister started the process of liberalisation of the media in the light of her vision It was for the first time during her government that the system of newsprint quota was done away with and it was in his government that cable news in Pakistan were introduced.

Recounting some of the achievements of the Present government, he said that the government has taken far-reaching measures to consolidate democracy which includes giving self-rule to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, resolving the issue of distribution of resources between the Federation and the Provinces through 7th NFC Award, restoring the 1973 Constitution, reclaiming Swat and Malakand from the militants, fighting terrorists and extremists head on and empowering the parliament in helping frame security and foreign policies. Commenting on the state of economy, he said that although certain sections of the society object to economic performance of the government which he opined are not based upon facts, he said that standard of living of the people was on the improvement which was reflected by the enhanced sale of cars, tractors, motor cycles and other necessities of life. He said that performance of the Karachi Stock Exchange, increased remittances and increase in country’s export shows that economy was not stagnant but was growing steadily and gradually. He however urged the need for more vigorous steps for sustainable economic development.

Commenting on current energy problems, he said that the government was deeply conscious of the energy problem which, he said was result of the circular debt left behind by the previous government. He said that during Shaheed Muhtarma’s second government Pakistan had surplus electricity and were even able to export power. However thoughtless reversal of the energy policy of her government led to the present day power crisis. He urged the need for all political parties and stakeholders to develop consensus on economic policies, particularly policies in addressing the energy crisis.

The president while touching upon steps taken by the government to improve condition of the media, said that present government has taken a number of measures for improving the conditions in media and will continue to take more such actions. He called upon all the stakeholders to work together to improve government-press relations in the larger interest of the country and the people.

On joint struggle for restoration of democracy in the country, he said that he has very close association with media persons as we together with many of the journalists endure hardship in the struggle for restoration of democracy in the country.

Speaking at the ceremony, Information Minister Kaira said the democratic government under the visionary leadership of President Zardari had demonstrated unflinching commitment to the freedom of expression, access to information and informed accountability.

He said the government had unprecedented patience and endurance to the hard hitting criticism by media and independent commentators.He said no journalist was ever victimised on account of criticism in last five years of democratic dispensation.

Kaira said the PPP leadership had taught the lesson of democratic patience and democratic dissent.He said today Pakistan is graduating into one of the most dynamic democracies of the world.He said he attributed the credit for the emerging democratic and political maturity to all political and democratic forces of the country.

Pakistan Press Foundation