CPNE refuses to accept amendment to Press Council draft law

LAHORE: A Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors meeting, with its president Arif Nizami in the chair, expressed shock on June 20 over the murder of journalist Hayatullah Khan. He was Waziristan correspondent of “The Nation.” “The murder of the journalist was a blatant attack on the freedom of press,” the meeting said while passing a unanimous resolution that called upon the government to arrange a judicial inquiry into it by a Supreme Court judge. “The CPNE, as well as representative bodies of the working journalists, should be taken into confidence on the inquiry’s terms of reference, and the inquiry itself should be completed within a month.”

Referring to statements by government functionaries wherein they had said that they were striving for the release of the kidnapped journalist by June 16, the participants said: “The fact is that Hayatullah Khan was found shot dead with his hands fettered in official handcuffs on that date.” They also noted with concern that the circumstances of the kidnapping and murder were still shrouded in mystery and demanded that all those people who were being mentioned in connection with the murder, should be asked to join the investigation.

The meeting also demanded that ban on journalists’ entry into Waziristan be lifted to facilitate independent reporting of the situation in the region. It also considered the dangerous situation in Balochistan where the deteriorating law and order situation had hindered the performance of independent journalism. A CPNE standing committee meeting will be held in Quetta in the first week of July, a statement later said.

As for other issues, the meeting discussed the issue of nomination of representatives of the editors’ only representative body in the Press Council. “The CPNE will never accept any amendment to the draft law on the Press Council unanimously approved by CPNE and APNS representatives and the government officials,” it viewed and reiterated that efforts to render the press freedom ineffective would be forcefully confronted. “The CPNE will not nominate its representatives to the Press Council until it was assured that the unanimous draft law would remain intact,” they made it clear.

The participants facilitated Khabrain’s Editor-in-Chief Zia Shahid for participating in the meeting for the first time since his protracted illness and prayed for his long life. Those attended the meeting were Arif Nizami, Irshad Ahmad Haqqani, Zia Shahid, Salim Bokhari (The News, Lahore) Mujeebur Rehman Shami (Pakistan), Altaf Hasan Qureshi, Mustafa Sadiq, Sajjad Bukhari (Musawaat), Imtinan Shahid (Naya Akhbar), Mumtaz A. Tahir (Aftab), Khaliqur Rehman Saifi (Saadat), Adeeb Javedani (Moon Digest), Jameel Athar (Daily Tijarat, Daily Jurat).
Source: The News
Date:6/21/2006