Press clubs denounce suspension of Geo licences

LAHORE: The Council of Pakistan Press Clubs (CPPC), condemning the suspension of licences of Geo TV network, has termed it an illegal act of private members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

CPPC Convener Arshad Ansari held an emergency meeting with the presidents of other press clubs of the country in a conference call. They pledged that the CPPC would resist the illegal decision to suspend the licences of Geo News, Geo Entertainment and Geo Tez.

Those who discussed this alarming situation included National Press Club President Shaheryar Khan, Karachi Press Club President Farhan Ahmed Khan, Peshawar Press Club President Nasir Hussain, Quetta Press Club President Raza Rehman, Skardu Press Club President Nisar Abbas, Okara Press Club President Munir Chaudhry, Rajanpur Press Club President Engineer Amjad Farooq, Faisalabad Press Club President Shahid Ali, Chaman Press Club President Noor Zaman Khan, Badin Press Club President Tanveer Ahmed, Hyderabad Press Club President Ishaq Mangreo, Khuzdar Press Club President Ayub Baloch, Kohat Press Club President Fazl Mahmood and others.

Addressing the meeting, Arshad Ansari said the journalists community would not tolerate any attempt to snatch the freedom of press. He said the decision of private Pemra members had put the jobs of thousands of workers of the Jang Group at stake and this would be resisted at all costs.

He said the ban on any media house, including Geo, was not acceptable and the CPPC would launch a movement to foil any such attempt.Meanwhile, the CPPC has decided to ban the entry of private members of Pemra into the press clubs of the country. The CPPC office-bearers said this decision had exposed the Pemra designs against the independent media. They urged the owners of other media houses to remain united at this critical juncture. They warned that other media houses might face the same situation if they didn’t stand united at this crucial point.

Convention of Council of Pakistan Press Clubs

 

LAHORE: The Quetta, Lahore, Skardu, Karachi, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Peshawar press club presidents have condemned an attack on Hamid Mir and declared that the curtailment of free speech was not tolerable to Pakistan’s journalists.
They were addressing the first convention of the Council of Pakistan Press Clubs here on Thursday. Addressing journalists representing 70 press clubs in Pakistan, Lahore Press Club (LPC) President Arshad Ansari said Hamid Mir’s attackers should be arrested and elements within the state should refrain from banning the Geo TV. He said the press clubs served an important purpose of bringing journalists from different media outlets together and ensuring they get insurance, pension and essential social services. He said other press clubs in small districts of the four provinces should follow the LPC and insure their members and press the government to build journalist colonies in their areas. He paid tribute to the late journalist Nisar Usmani and said journalists had historically fought against dictatorships and for the protection of democratic institutions.

The LPC president said there were towns in Pakistan where four or two press clubs operated instead of one. Elections were not held there on a regular basis, and the press clubs councils were infiltrated by the editors of newspapers and government employees disguising themselves as journalists. It’s time for journalists to unite and finish this dirty infighting between media outlets, he said.

Shafique Awan said the dangerous trend of labelling journalists as traitors must be immediately stopped as the label of ‘traitor’ could lead to the death of a journalist. He said journalists were important part of democracy since they informed citizens of their rights and abuses of power. He objected to any action against the Geo TV and said the PEMRA complaint filed by the Ministry of Defence should be withdrawn.

Journalists arrived from the four provinces raised issues including the need for one press club in their districts, proper identification for press club members, safety and security of journalists, decent income and regular contracts for journalists, regular press council elections, comprehensive coverage of issues plaguing Balochistan, KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, measures against illegal encroachments on press clubs, protocol and adherence to press club constitution and social welfare schemes for journalists.

National Press Club Islamabad President Shehryar Khan said media outlets deserved scrutiny and condemned a local news channel for firing a female anchor because she asked for maternity leave. He condemned the measures being taken to cancel the Geo TV licence, saying that it would put thousands of people out of work. He said the Council of Pakistan Press Clubs stood for individuals and would help any journalist facing threat to his/her life. He said conspiracy theories being aired on Hamid Mir’s attack should be condemned as Mir was still undergoing treatment.

Press Club Quetta President Raza Rahman praised Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Afzal Butt for visiting Balochistan and establishing a PFUJ office in Quetta. Rahman said journalists in Balochistan worked in spectacularly dangerous conditions and could be picked up anytime by agencies and terrorist groups. He said Pakistani media was not giving enough coverage to Baloch issues and they were suffering from government negligence.

He said Baloch journalists were also facing false charges of terrorism and militant separatism.

Karachi Press Club President Imtiaz Farhan said the KPC condemned measures to curb freedom of expression and believed journalists should be given their economic rights. He praised the PFUJ leadership in the fight for free speech and said the Council of Pakistan Press Clubs would work in collaboration with the PFUJ for the welfare of all journalists in the country. He said the PEMRA lacked authority to revoke the Geo TV licence.

Peshawar Press Club President Nasir Hussain said KP journalists since the war on terror faced multiple threats and field reporting was difficult in the region. He said the PPC had started insuring its members for their welfare. He said a uniform constitution for all press clubs could prevent irregularities and bad practices at the district level.

Skardu Press Club President Nisar Abbas said Gilgit-Baltistan had a large number of unmasked graves that were not getting coverage in the mainstream Pakistani media and the PFUJ had not done much to alter the situation. He said Gilgit-Baltistan’s press club members had no votes in the PFUJ elections and their representation in government bodies was insignificant. Abbas condemned the attack on Hamid Mir.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Press Club President Tahir Ahmed Farooqi thanked Arshad Ansari for arranging the convention and said PFUJ President Afzal Butt had visited AJK multiple times on behalf of the organisation.

Former Council of Pakistan Press Clubs and National Press Club Islamabad convener Farooq Faisal said his dream of seeing press clubs united at a single platform had been realized. He said the All Pakistan Women Journalist Convention scheduled to take place on Friday (today) would be a resounding success as well. He said Hamid Mir’s attackers must be arrested.

PFUJ President Afzal Butt welcomed the formation of the Council of Pakistan Press Clubs and said the country’s worrying circumstances merited a discussion amongst journalists. He said the reports of deaths of journalists from Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Mansehra and Abbottabad were alarming. He said whereas journalists in big towns in Pakistan got coverage; journalists in small districts were being killed without a minute of media coverage. Butt said the PFUJ had issued a statement on the day when Hamid Mir was attacked.

A prayer for Hamid Mir and the murdered president of the Mianwali Press Club followed the speeches. At the conclusion, a declaration was passed by the Council of Pakistan Press Clubs. The declaration stated that the government should take measures to provide security to journalists and actively protect their freedom of speech and no curtailments on freedom of speech would be tolerated.

Curbs on Geo unacceptable: Lahore Press Club seminar

LAHORE: A large number of journalists from different media organisations, senior lawyers and representatives of various political parties on Saturday unanimously rejected any curbs on Geo News.

They vowed to foil any conspiracy against freedom of expression and demanded the immediate arrest of the elements involved in the attack on Hamid Mir.

At a seminar ‘Geo ki Bandish Na Manzoor’ (Banning Geo is unacceptable) at the Lahore Press Club, the speakers expressed the resolve to safeguard media freedom and leave no stone unturned for achieving the cause.

The major speakers on the occasion included Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore leader Ameer-ul-Azeem, Lahore Press Club President Arshad Ansari, Sarwar Malik Advocate and senior journalists including Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Bedar Bakht Butt, Maqsood Butt, Sabir Shah, Salman Ghani, Naseem Qureshi, Latif Chaudhry, Gohar Butt, Amjad Warraich, Bakht Geer Chaudhry, Rizwan Razi, Omar Sharif, Eesar Rana, Waseem Farooq, Wasif Nagi, Shahbaz Mian and Anjum Fayyaz.

They paid rich tributes to senior journalist Hamid Mir while describing him as the voice of the nation and said the entire nation stood with him.

They also stated that the event was a vote against any move to curb media freedom and impose restrictions on Geo News which were not acceptable under any pretext.

No one will be allowed to snatch press freedom’

 

LAHORE: Speakers at a seminar held at the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) said the right of freedom of expression was directly linked to the right to life, but unfortunately, both of them were in jeopardy in Pakistan.
They said they would not allow anyone to snatch the press freedom. MNA Tehmina Daultana, former assistant attorney general Iftikhar Shahid, Geo Television Lahore Bureau chief Syed Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Khalid Chaudhry, Allama Siddique Azhar and Anjum Rasheed were speaking at a seminar organised in connection with the attack on Hamid Mir and the freedom of expression.

They said the freedom of speech and freedom of the press were a part of the Constitution of Pakistan and there was no state or non-state institution that could defy these rights under any pretext. The civil society and the media had a history of a rigorous struggle for the freedom of expression and press. Therefore, they would not allow anyone to take back even a small part of the gains made so far.

They said in the case of Pakistan, the right of expression was directly linked to the right of life because those who were determined to practice the former were ending up risking the latter.The speakers were of the view that there was a need to improve the current state of security and tolerance among certain national quarters regarding information and opinion.

According the speakers, the right to freedom of expression and security are a cornerstone of any democracy and the country becomes a totalitarian state the very moment these rights are encroached upon. The government needs to look into the situation as to why the freedom of expression was becoming more and more dearer rather than an inalienable right and should fix this growing dangerous trend.

They pointed out that even before the attack on Hamid Mir, dozens of journalists suffered the same fate and many had not been as lucky as Hamid, as they lost their lives for the cause. They said had the inquiry report and the measures proposed by the Saleem Shahzad commission implemented, it would have acted as a deterrent.

They said practicing the right to freedom of expression was not exclusive to journalists; in fact, politicians used it more than media persons in their election campaigns, in parliament and at other forums. Therefore, any curb on this right would not only hit the media but would also seal the lips of the society as a whole.

They said no one could deny the fact that the Geo News and other organisations of the Jang Group were the most popular media outlets in Pakistan and any attempt to shut them down would be a blow to the people’s right to information.