Curbs on Media: New Bill proposed by MPs

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Media should be free LIVE COVERAGE .....is live coverage

If Media can cover Afghan war / Viet Nam war etc Palestine so it can do same locally if ppl are exploding it puts pressure on gov to Act


If operation is done in lal mosque it was needed - becasue otherwise ppl will make story that black water attacked lal mosque can you imagine the psychalogical recruitment tool that would have been

I also like the media exposing ***** gov officials with FAKE DEGREES

 

[T-Faz]

This is what happened in the 80's when media was controlled and information on frequent attacks in the country were rarely reported. This was done so to give credibility to the government, many died in FATA and the adjoining areas but such news was overlooked then to and not made public.

The people who are trying to do this now are from the same crop who did what happened in the 80's. I hope that this garbage bill is thrown to the bin, that is where it belongs.

 

[Old School]

Usually, these MNA's neither know how to type a PC nor to surf the net. Most of them can not draft a letter without the help of an educated PA. Hence, they have no idea where we are now as far as infotech is concerned. This bill will remain as a piece of paper only even if it is passed. There willl not be any substantial impact in depriving people from the information flow. I wish them good luck.

 

[mikkix]

This is what happened in the 80's when media was controlled and information on frequent attacks in the country were rarely reported. This was done so to give credibility to the government, many died in FATA and the adjoining areas but such news was overlooked then to and not made public.

The people who are trying to do this now are from the same crop who did what happened in the 80's. I hope that this garbage bill is thrown to the bin, that is where it belongs.

the resolution doesn't restricts media but it states that media should respect the people because some video of female politicians was portrayed indecently by some news channels...
that was a good move in a sense that they (media) are acting as a puppets for establishment, same with the case of chief justice..
All such free media is a tactical move to impose controlled democracy in Pakistan...
Yes this democracy is far from people of pakistan..

 

[Icarus]

About time......about 3000 people died as a consequence of 9/11 yet not a single corpse was shown on t.v, our media is so daft, especially GEO, they keep showing severed limbs and bloody corpses atleast for a week after terror attacks. This not only has a bad effect on children, whose minds are in stages of development but also discourages people abroad from EVER visiting Pakistan, it also causes unnecessary panic.................

 

[Cheetah786]

Destruction caused by the Terrorist attack shown to the people only creates hatred for the terrorist.terrorist sympathizers come under pressure so they are trying to block the media from showing the reality how is this good for the People or Pakistan please do share with me.

 

[mikkix]

Destruction caused by the Terrorist attack shown to the people only creates hatred for the terrorist.terrorist sympathizers come under pressure so they are trying to block the media from showing the reality how is this good for the People or Pakistan please do share with me.

Hell with terrorists,,,
But showing those terrorism videos can make a mind making game to facilitate the american game to kill those peoples what they want, through own people....
The world is full of deception........

 

[devil'sadvocate]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Feb 1, 1999

His Excellency Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister
Prime Minister’s Secretariat
Islamabad, Pakistan
2118 Kalorama Rd., N.W.

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the range of tactics your administration is using to harass and intimidate the Jang Group of Newspapers, Pakistan’s largest newspaper publishing company. Earlier today, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) impounded supplies of newsprint bound for Jang’s Rawalpindi headquarters. The action came just hours after a ruling in the Jang Group’s favor by the Supreme Court, ordering the government to allow the immediate delivery of newsprint to the group, which has only enough paper in its reserves to publish through tomorrow. The Supreme Court’s order came on the first day of hearings on a case filed by the Jang Group, accusing the government of conducting a campaign of “vilification, intimidation and harassment.”

Government officials have reportedly announced that they will not comply with the Supreme Court’s directive on the grounds that the Jang Group owes customs duties on previous shipments of newsprint amounting to 1.6 billion rupees (US$31.4 million). The government has also delivered a stream of tax evasion notices against the company-as well as against Jang’s publisher, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman-that now total more than 2 billion rupees (US$40 million). Meanwhile, on January 30, an official acting “on behalf of the state,” according to the police report, registered a case at Karachi’s Civil Lines Police Station charging the company’s Urdu-language daily Jang-along with the Urdu-language newspapers Amman and Parcham-with sedition. Shakil-ur Rahman is named in the police file, and is accused of publishing a political advertisement that “has created hatred in the public by virtue of seditious contents.”

These threats constitute a multi-pronged assault on Jang’s ability to publish. In addition, two prominent journalists associated with the company have recently reported incidents of personal harassment. Maleeha Lodhi, an editor with Jang’s English-language daily The News in Rawalpindi, wrote a letter to Interior Minister Shujat Hussain on January 30, complaining that in a 24-hour period she had received several anonymous phone calls threatening that she would be killed and that her house would be “blown up.” Lodhi believes the threats are aimed at her journalistic work and that they have assumed “an ominous nature because of the current climate of hostility created by the government’s assault on the Jang Group of Newspapers.”

Kamran Khan, investigations editor for The News in Karachi, reports that he is being followed by agents who say they are with Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau. On January 28, intelligence agents visited Khan’s home in response to a story he had written, and, according to Khan, sent a message that “I must behave because they knew well about my movements and activities.” Khan says that officials have confirmed that the Intelligence Bureau is tapping his phone calls, and that transcripts of his conversations have been provided to the government’s Ehtesab (Accountability) Bureau to “dig [for] some weak points.” The Ehtesab Bureau, established by your administration to investigate corruption charges, is headed by Sen. Saifur Rahman, who has been accused by the Jang Group of making a number of demands on the company at the behest of the government.

As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues around the world, CPJ is outraged by your government’s blatant attempts to control the independent media in Pakistan. CPJ’s initial protest was sent to your office on December 15. In that letter we enumerated several cases of official harassment, and listed the names of 15 Jang journalists (including Lodhi and Khan) whom the government has allegedly targeted for dismissal. We received a reply from Principal Information Officer Ashfaq Ahmad Gondal on December 19, stating that “the government has never asked the management of the Jang Group of Newspapers to dismiss any of their employees” and that “a government that is wholly committed to press freedom cannot even for a moment consider steps that impinge upon freedom of expression.” And yet, in a press conference held on January 28, Shakil-ur-Rahman played excerpts of his tape-recorded discussions with Senator Rahman in which the senator clearly orders the dismissal of several senior journalists, advises the publisher to hire only those journalists who would report favorably on the government’s policies, and demands that Jang’s papers desist from publishing reports critical of the government’s performance. According to the tapes, Senator Rahman said at one point that “If we see any positive change in your attitude, we will settle your problems in a positive manner.”

CPJ strongly urges your administration to cease all actions against the Jang Group and its employees in order to demonstrate Pakistan’s commitment to the “promotion, protection, and preservation of the freedom of press,” as pledged in your principal information officer’s December 19 letter. We appreciate your attention to this matter, and await your response.

Sincerely Yours,

Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director

Saif-ur-Rehman versus Jang Group – Guest post by Aamir Mughal|Let Us Build Pakistan

 

[Meengla]

Looks to me like this resolution against media by the Punjab Assembly has something to do with the internal politics of PMLN? Perhaps something to do with PMLN losing its majority should a large number of its MPAs are disqualified because of 'fake' degrees?

Read the article below. Looks like these PMLN idiots don't know that passing a Resolution in the Assembly is a serious matter. The fact that it was in the presence of Shahbaz Sharif makes me think that the next likely setup in Pakistan--probably dominated by PMLN--will have Pakistan under leadership whose IQ is going to be lower than even that of the present lot. Sad. But...still better have them then the jackboots.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | PML-N backtracks after media onslaught

ISLAMABAD: After about 24 hours of an unrelenting attack from the media, political parties and others, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif finally spoke out in a damage control exercise on Saturday and denounced the resolution adopted by the Punjab Assembly against the media.

Mr Sharif criticised the role played by Sanaullah Mastikhel, the PML-N legislator and mover of the resolution, and said that “such people should be thrown out of the party”.

Speaking at a press conference in London, the PML-N chief said that Mr Mastikhel should be kicked out of the party by Shahbaz Sharif.

While saying this, Mr Sharif appeared to have forgotten that Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab, was also present in the assembly when the resolution was passed by his party’s MPAs.

That the party decided to make Mr Mastikhel a scapegoat of the 24 hour-long storm was clear from the manner in which Mr Sharif spoke of him.

Describing Mr Mastikhel as a turncoat who jumped onto the PML-N bandwagon, Mr Sharif said he would not allow anyone to use or abuse his party.

At the same time, in an attempt to dispel an impression that the PML-N has changed its principled stance on the issue of fake degrees because of the pressure from the party’s rank and file, he expressed disappointment over the fact that such a large number of his party’s parliamentarians were holding bogus degrees.

The PML-N chief said his party had a clear stance on the matter, adding that those with fake degrees had betrayed their voters and the nation. “I shall never award party tickets to such ‘cheaters’ in future.”

Mr Sharif waxed lyrical about the media which, he said, had “played a vital role for restoration of democracy and judiciary, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with political parties at every stage of the struggle”.

Realising that the PML-N needed to regain the goodwill of the media and hang on to its image as a democratic party that believed in strong institutions, Mr Sharif was full of praise for the media.

He said the media was doing the right job in highlighting issues like fake degrees. “My party will always uphold freedom of the press.”

He condemned unequivocally the resolution moved and passed by his party in the Punjab Assembly.

The provincial assembly had on Friday adopted a unanimous resolution against the media after hours of speeches in which one lawmaker after another passed scathing remarks against journalists.

Insiders claim there have been rumblings within the party over the sordid affair. What added to the fears of PML-N parliamentarians was their party’s stand that it would, unlike the PPP, not award another ticket to those found guilty of faking a degree.

In fact, there have been speculations that the mood of members had forced an unannounced change in the party’s attitude. These fears were confirmed when the Punjab assembly exploded against the press.

The PML-N leadership appears to have had no choice, but to backtrack and distance itself from Friday’s episode. And that Mr Sharif’s remarks were not made without deliberate thought is clear from a change in the tone of other leaders.

In Rahimyar Khan, Shahbaz Sharif said the resolution against the media was not a part of the party’s policy and vowed to “scrap it”.

Spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn that since Sanaullah Mastikhel was a member of the provincial assembly, the party chief had asked the provincial parliamentary leader Shahbaz Sharif to take disciplinary action against him.

He said that a show-cause notice would be issued to Mr Mastikhel soon.