LAHORE, Oct 8: The South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) on Sunday condemned the surge in violence against journalists in the country over the past few months, calling it a “serious deterioration” in the security environment for media. Safma national executive body, which met in Lahore, deplored what it called an aggravating situation for working journalists, and expressed its serious concern for the safety of two mediamen–Munir Mengal of the Bloch Voice TV and Mehruddin Marri of the Sindhi-language daily, Kawish,– who were still missing after being kidnapped allegedly by the intelligence agencies.
The association demanded the Sindh government should take all possible steps to ensure safety and early recovery of both journalists. It also appealed to the superior courts to take suo moto notice of these cases. It also condoled the death of two journalists– Hayatullah Khan of daily Ausaf and photographer of the European Press Photo Agency (EPA). Alleging lack of fair investigations into the killing of Hayatullah Khan, it demanded making public the investigation reports of the case. The government should bring the culprits to justice in the cases to allay the apprehensions of journalist community, it demanded. It also lashed out at the law-enforcing agencies for unprovoked thrashing of three TV journalists from ATV and ARY-One in Lahore, and termed it a blatant attack on press freedom. It expressed its anguish over the Punjab government’s illegal action of forcing local cable-operators to stop ARY-One transmissions in the province.
The meeting also expressed concern over threats being issued to a journalist Saeed Sarbazi of the Business Recorder, who was recently released after being abducted in Karachi. Condemning manhandling of a senior journalist, C R Shamsi, at the Parliament House premises by a bodyguard of law minister, it said such incidents spoke volumes about plight of journalists and press freedom in the country. The meeting expressed solidarity with the journalists struggling for press freedom and called upon the government to respect their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The body sought an end to `culture of repression’ and demanded that journalists be allowed to perform their professional duties without risk and fear. It vowed to pursue its agenda for peace, regional cooperation, press freedom and journalists’ rights, regardless of any pressure from any quarter. It called upon the governments of Pakistan and India not to let the peace process derail and allow joint mechanism to help control the menace of terrorism in the region. It emphasised that the two governments must not waste time in moving towards conflict resolution, including on Kashmir.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/9/2006
