_________________________________________________________________
JOINT ACTION - PAKISTAN
19 June 2007
IFEX members urge President Musharraf to address deteriorating free
expression situation
SOURCE: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Karachi
(PPF/IFEX) - The following is a PPF-led joint letter to Pakistan President
General Pervez Musharraf from IFEX members:
General Pervez Musharraf
President
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax: +92 51 922 1422/4768, +92 51 920 1893/1835
E-mail: (See:
http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)
Dear Mr. President,
We, freedom of expression organizations, are deeply concerned by the many
attempts and actions aimed at intimidating Pakistan's electronic media
outlets and journalists who have been covering the protest campaign
following the suspension of the country's Supreme Court Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and the filing of the presidential reference
against him in the Supreme Judicial Council on 9 March 2007.
On 4 June, under the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)
Amendment Ordinance 2007, the state was given new powers to seal the
premises of broadcasters, confiscate equipment and revoke licenses. It also
increased maximum fines for violations of PEMRA laws tenfold. Although the
government suspended the amendments covered in the ordinance in view of
severe opposition, there is a need to annul the amendments immediately, and
to remove the restrictive provisions in the existing PEMRA laws, rules and
regulations.
Other recent incidents have also created a more hostile environment for
electronic media outlets and journalists. On 2 June, PEMRA prohibited
independent TV channels from broadcasting programmes, including live talk
shows and discussions on the judicial crisis, live coverage of the
procession of Justice Chaudhry from Islamabad, and his address to the bar
association there in Abbottabad. Two days earlier, Minister of Information
of Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani accused the electronic
media of having an "irresponsible attitude" in covering the judicial crisis
and added that this negative propaganda could affect the direct foreign
investment in the country and harm the nation's institutions.
These are just the latest in a series of attacks on media that have
included gunfire against Aaj TV, a leading television channel in Pakistan,
for almost four hours on 12 May. This incident occurred during clashes
between government supporters and opposition activists that took the lives
of 42 people in Karachi, the country's largest city. The attackers also set
ablaze vehicles in the parking lot of the television network. Law
enforcement agencies failed to provide security although the television
channel broadcast live coverage of the assault on its premises and made
many appeals for protection.
Another example of the unacceptable tactics used to by your government to
pressure media was the police raid on the offices of the Islamabad bureau
of Geo TV on 16 March. This punitive action came as the television channel
was broadcasting a live report of police using rubber bullets and tear gas
on demonstrators who were attempting to join lawyers protesting outside the
Supreme Court.
There have also been attempts to exert legal pressure on independent media
channels. On 22 April, PEMRA served a show-cause notice to Aaj TV for
airing news, talk shows and other programmes on the judicial crisis in
Pakistan and threatened the channel with closure. The notice said that the
TV channel had violated the law by covering an issue that was pending
before the Supreme Judicial Council.
Another tactic employed by authorities to harass television channels was
the request to cable operators to suspend transmission of selected channels
including GEO TV, Aaj TV, ARY TV and Royal TV. The transmissions of
television channels have been blocked many times in various parts of the
country.
A number of journalists have also been assaulted and harassed for covering
the judicial crisis. For example, in May, Shakeel Turabi, chief editor of
a local news agency, was brutally beaten because his news agency reported
that individuals who had assaulted Justice Chaudhary were intelligence
officers and not policemen, as had been claimed by the government. Turabi
was warned that his name could end up on a list of missing persons.
The actions referred to above present a picture of an alarming
deterioration in the freedom of expression environment in Pakistan. They
also raise serious doubts about your government's often-stated commitment
to freedom of expression.
We would respectfully urge you to refrain from enacting regulations that
restrict freedom of expression in the country, particularly those affecting
the electronic media. We also urge you to order an independent
investigation into all incidents of harassment and intimidation of the
media and to bring to justice those responsible for these acts.
We thank you for your attention and look forward to your reply.
Signed,
Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Karachi
ARTICLE 19, London
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Toronto
Freedom House, New York
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Brussels
Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Lagos
PROBIDAD, La Libertad
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Bangkok
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Manila
Cartoonists Rights Network (CRN), Burke
Cc:
Mr. Muhammad Wasi Zafar
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Mr. Muhammad Ali Durrani
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
E-mail: infominister@infopak.gov.pk
For further information, contact Owais Aslam Ali at PPF, Press Centre,
Shahrah Kamal Ataturk, Karachi 74200, Pakistan, tel: +92 21 263 3215, fax:
+92 21 263 1275, e-mail: foe@pakistanpressfoundation.org, Internet:
http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org
The information contained in this joint action is the sole responsibility
of PPF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
PPF.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
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