ISLAMABAD: The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), on Sunday, reiterated that it will continue to strive for the protection of freedom of the press against all odds.
The CPNE has also urged all the institutions to respect the people’s fundamental right to freedom of expression, granted under the Constitution of Pakistan.
The Standing Committee of the CPNE, chaired by Jamil Athar Qazi, President CPNE, met yesterday and took a serious notice of the matter wherein some prominent journalists have been reported to have received life threats. The committee assured that the CPNE will leave no stone unturned to protect the fundamental rights of the pressmen.
CPNE President Qazi said that the media was playing its constructive role, adding that the press, regardless of whether it was democracy or dictatorship, had always preferred constructive criticism.
The committee expressed its deep concern over the problems faced by newspapers and periodicals of Balochistan and, while examining different obstructions in the discharge of professional duties of the press in Balochistan, decided to form a Fact Finding Committee, which will contact the stakeholders for resolution of the problems. The meeting also took a strong notice of the maligning campaign against Mehtab Khan, Editor-in-Chief of Daily Ausaf, Islamabad, and demanded of the government to expose the culprits involved in it.
The meeting also expressed its concern over the increasing trend of yellow journalism and pledged to continue its struggle against such negative media trends.The committee decided to hold the annual general meeting and elections for the year 2012-13 on January 28, 2012 in Lahore at the Avari Hotel.
The meeting decided to invite all those members to attend the annual meeting whose names existed in the voters’ list from November 2010. The meeting also approved an amended draft of the constitution of the CPNE. Furthermore, the committee discussed matters in connection with the functioning of the CPNE.
The meeting expressed grief over the sad demise of veteran journalist Mustafa Sadiq, Editor Daily Wifaq, Haji Muhammad Akram, former secretary of the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan, and wife of Prof S B Hassan, a senior member of CPNE and APNS. The meeting offered Fateha for their departed souls.
The meeting was attended by President CPNE Jamil Athar Qazi (Tijarat), Senior Vice President Kazi Asad Abid (Ibrat), Secretary General Ilyas Shakir (Qaumi Akhbar), Vice President (Islamabad) Ghulam Akbar (Al-Akhbar), Vice President (Punjab) Mumtaz A Tahir (Aftab), Vice President (Balochistan) Waseem Ahmed (Awam), Vice President (Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard (Wahdat), Joint Secretary Javed Meher Shamsi (Kaleem), Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi (Naye Uffaq), Anwar Farooqui (Aghaz), Mehtab Khan (Ausaf), Syed Fasih Iqbal (Balochistan Times), Abdul Rasheed Ghazi (Business Report), Najmuddin Sheikh (Deyanat), Mukhtar Aqil (Jurrat), Sardar Khan Niazi (Naya Rukh), Rukhsana Saulat Saleemi (Nikhar), Syed Muhammad Munir Jilani (Paigham), Humayun Gulzar (Seyadat), Gauhar Zahid Malik (Pakistan Observer), Syed Sarmad Ali (Jang), Anjum Ibrahim (Business Recorder), Javed Siddiq (Nawa-e-Waqt), Sheikh Danish Iftikhar, Shaikh Iftikhar Adil (Asas), Sohail Chaudhry (Pakistan), Ishtiaq Abbasi (Azkar) and Munir Ahmed (Nawa-e-Pak).
Source: The News
