Crackdown on press freedom in Pakistan
Posted by Evan Fell on November 6, 2007 at 4:54 PM
Since November 3rd and the declared state of emergency in Pakistan, crackdowns on the press have worsened- in a country where the press freedom had reportedly improved in recent years.
The new laws passed “on 3 November are a death warrant for some of the privately-owned TV and radio news stations that emerged in recent years,” reports Reporters Without Borders.
"For the past three days, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been destroying all the press freedom gains one by one," the organisation said. If the laws are disobeyed the government has the right to seize newspapers or to confiscate equipment from broadcast media.
Since November 3rd several journalists, broadcasters, and photographers have been arrested as well as equipment being seized. According to the Rural Media Network in Pakistan, Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was arrested by the Pakistani police.
The Pakistani government under General Musharraf claimed to support complete freedom of the press. The media actually has the right to mock their leader and TV journalism has taken off under General Musharraf. However, many recent cases have proved that the press does not have nearly as much freedom as would be expected.
There have been many examples of harassment of the Pakistani media. There were suspicions around the kidnapping of Hayatullah Khan a journalist working in the tribal areas of Pakistan. There has been over a dozen court cases, arrests of two editors, and baton-charging at demonstrations by journalists in Lahore and Islamabad.
Reporters without Borders also strongly denounces the crackdowns on the press in Pakistan and reports that “dozens of journalists have been detained, attacked or prevented from working. Transmission equipment has been seized from several broadcast media.”
Journalists in the tribal areas have faced the most significant pressures from the government. Some journalists have been killed and many have fled the area. Along with the kidnap and murder of Hayatullah Khan, at least ten other journalists were kidnapped in 2006 by security forces, assumed to be intelligence agents.
Another organization speaks out proclaiming, “The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) is dismayed by measures taken by the Pakistani government to override the constitution and hobble media free expression so basic to democracy,” said the CJA in a statement. The CJA explains their position by saying “While the CJA endorses the wish to bring peace and harmony to Pakistan's majority of millions of peace-loving citizens, it cannot condone emergency measures which crush mediums of understanding, debate, and objectivity.”
The crackdown on press freedom has created a huge response from the world of journalism and media.
Sources:
AsiaMedia
Reporters without Borders (here and here)
BBC News
"For the past three days, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has been destroying all the press freedom gains one by one," the organisation said. If the laws are disobeyed the government has the right to seize newspapers or to confiscate equipment from broadcast media.
Since November 3rd several journalists, broadcasters, and photographers have been arrested as well as equipment being seized. According to the Rural Media Network in Pakistan, Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General of the South Asian Free Media Association and World Editors Forum Board member, was arrested by the Pakistani police.
The Pakistani government under General Musharraf claimed to support complete freedom of the press. The media actually has the right to mock their leader and TV journalism has taken off under General Musharraf. However, many recent cases have proved that the press does not have nearly as much freedom as would be expected.
There have been many examples of harassment of the Pakistani media. There were suspicions around the kidnapping of Hayatullah Khan a journalist working in the tribal areas of Pakistan. There has been over a dozen court cases, arrests of two editors, and baton-charging at demonstrations by journalists in Lahore and Islamabad.
Reporters without Borders also strongly denounces the crackdowns on the press in Pakistan and reports that “dozens of journalists have been detained, attacked or prevented from working. Transmission equipment has been seized from several broadcast media.”
Journalists in the tribal areas have faced the most significant pressures from the government. Some journalists have been killed and many have fled the area. Along with the kidnap and murder of Hayatullah Khan, at least ten other journalists were kidnapped in 2006 by security forces, assumed to be intelligence agents.
Another organization speaks out proclaiming, “The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) is dismayed by measures taken by the Pakistani government to override the constitution and hobble media free expression so basic to democracy,” said the CJA in a statement. The CJA explains their position by saying “While the CJA endorses the wish to bring peace and harmony to Pakistan's majority of millions of peace-loving citizens, it cannot condone emergency measures which crush mediums of understanding, debate, and objectivity.”
The crackdown on press freedom has created a huge response from the world of journalism and media.
Sources:
AsiaMedia
Reporters without Borders (here and here)
BBC News
Posted in :
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Crackdown on press freedom in Pakistan.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/5486
Please cancel our New York Times Subscription immediately, (Sunday only). My name and address is. In Case you need to call me, our phone number is (206) 932 2506.
Richard D. Ingalls
3816 S.W. Massachusetts
Seattle, WA 98126