LAHORE: The
Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) in its emergent meeting
held at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal in Lahore unanimously declared that closure of
any media house or cancellation of licence or declaration of any
channel or publication will not be acceptable as it is not in the
national interest. Any such action will be tantamount to a grave crisis
and will do irreparable harm to the democratic Pakistan, says a press
release on Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by
President of CPNE Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami. The CPNE further resolved that
sanctity of defence as well as media institutions is equally important
as both are national institutions. It was further resolved that Pakistan
armed forces and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are our vital
national institutions and it is our collective responsibility to defend
and safeguard their honour and dignity.
The meeting called
upon all the media houses to show responsibility while
reporting/commenting about these vital security organisations. It also
discussed at length the recent reference filed by the Ministry of
Defence with Pemra and expressed satisfaction that the government and
aggrieved national institutions had taken a legal course instead of
taking an arbitrary decision. However, the meeting expressed deep
concerns over the present constitution of Pemra and showed apprehensions
regarding its ability to deliver a just and fair decision, due to its
ad-hoc structure.
The meeting strongly condemned the
attack on senior journalist Hamid Mir and demanded that the government
should take immediate and swift action to ensure the safety of all the
media persons associated with national media organisations.
The
meeting also declared that the right to freedom of speech is enshrined
in the Constitution of Pakistan and the state should provide adequate
protection to journalists against life threats emanating from any
quarter. The meeting appreciated the federal and Sindh governments’
decision to constitute a Judicial Commission and Joint Investigation
Team for the investigation of this attack and expressed the hope that
perpetrators would be brought to justice without any fear or favour.
The
meeting appealed to all the media organisations, including APNS, PBA
and PFUJ, to unite at this hour of need and subside the tensions between
different media organisations. It further requested these organisations
to play their role in creating harmony and solidarity among the media
houses and work together for the safety and protection of press freedom
and journalists.
The meeting also expressed concerns over
reports of life threats to senior journalist Iftikhar Ahmad and other
media persons and demanded that the government should take immediate
action in this regard.
The meeting was attended by Arif
Nizami (Pakistan Today), Shaheen Qureshi (VP CPNE, Jang Group), Imtiaz
Alam (South Asia Journal), Salman Ghani (Daily Dunya), Umer Shami (Daily
Pakistan), Khalid Qayyum (Daily Express), Mumtaz Tahir (Daily Aftab),
Sajjad Bukhari (Daily AbTak), Naveed Chaudhry (Daily City 42), Baidar
Sarmadi (Daily Front), Baidar Bakht Butt (Daily Jang), Hafiz Iqbal
(Daily Insaf), Khawaja Munawarul Hasan (Daily Musawat), Khalid Farooqi
(Daily Awaz), Zulfiqar Lodhi (Daily Tijarat), Asghar Ali ( Daily
Jurrat), Siddique Asghar (The News), Adeel Niaz (Jahangir Times), Asad
Kashif, Adeeb Jawadani (Monthly Moon Digest), Munir Ahmad Naulakha
(Musawwar International) and Taufique Rehman (Daily Saadat).
