PESHAWAR: Speakers at a convention on Monday criticised the government for violence against media personnel.
Political party leaders and journalists attended the convention, which had been arranged by the Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) at the Peshawar Press Club to condemn attacks on journalists and non-implementation of the 7th wage board award.
In his speech, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Huma Ali Shah said the Frontier province was the most dangerous zone for journalists, and that General Musharraf was erring by considering media owners journalists.
“The number of journalists killed in Musharraf’s rule is more than that in General Zia’s rule,” he said adding that the inquiry report on Hayatullah’s murder was yet to be published. He said the press freedom index ranking of Pakistan was 157 among 168 nations.
PML-N NWFP President Pir Sabir Shah said, “The press is the voice of politicians and the public and its freedom is in fact the nation’s freedom. But the press is presently in chains.”
Sabir Shah said dictatorship had encroached all institutions and that, “We should launch a coordinated struggle, as our liberty is at stake.” He added that the press freedom slogans had proven to be hollow once the media started exposing government’s wrongdoings. ANP Provincial President Afrasayab Khattak said that civil society could not survive without media and that journalists should have facilities including pensions and social security. He said there was no difference between the agencies and those abducting people. He said there was a gap between rulers and citizens, adding, “Press is a mirror and one can see their real face in it.”
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P)’s Farid Toofan said the press had never been independent in Pakistan. He said the role of political parties had been unsatisfactory towards this end.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP Ameer Sirajul Haq said political party workers were supporting media in its struggle for freedom. He said a society without free media was like a prison, adding that every ruler during his rule’s last days tried to gag the media. He said that despite some difference, all political parties wanted press freedom, an end to dictatorship and an independent election commission.
Rukshanda Naz of the Aurat Foundation said women journalists’ problems were being ignored and that the media only highlighted the problems being faced by male journalists. She said women were assigned fashion beats at newspapers or only confined to women’s editions, and not assigned to crimes and political beats.
Senior journalist CR Shamsi stated that even those preaching human rights and the judiciary’s supremacy on the editorial pages of newspapers were not ready to implement wage board awards in their organisations despite the fact that all four provincial assemblies, the national assembly, senate and federal cabinet had passed resolutions over the issue.
He said 19 journalists had been killed during the past four years, but that not a single killer had been nabbed, nor had a challan been presented in court. KhUJ President Jan Afzal, Peshawar Press Club President Mohammad Riaz, JUI Secretary General Shujaul Mulk and Tribal Union of Journalist (TUJ) representatives also addressed the audience.
Source: Daily Times
Date:7/3/2007
