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Unfettered press freedom sought in Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Representatives of Pakistan’s media community came together on Tuesday to make a strong demand for unfettered access to information and freedom from all restrictions that prevent them from discharging their professional duties.

The All Pakistan Newspaper Society, an organisation of newspaper owners, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, the Pakistan Broadcasting Association that represents owners of private television and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists were among the signatories of the Islamabad Declaration.

The meeting was organised by the Pakistan chapter of the South Asia Media Commission.

The South Asian Free Media Association was also a signatory to the resolution.

The resolution demanded the creation of a secure working environment for journalists, and an end to the practice of “press advice” from the Government to the press and electronic media, which it said “has been revived with an increased display of arrogance”.

It also asked for an end to colonial-era laws for regulating the media, and said that it should be left to the media associations and journalists to find ways to enforce a code of ethics and redress public complaints against them.

The resolution made several specific demands.

One was for the “drastic revision” of Pakistan’s Freedom of Information Ordinance to increase access to government records.

A free media was an important part of this ideal, and “no conscientious Pakistani should wish that this historic moment may be allowed to pass”, the resolution stated.

Representatives of civil society, and MPs present endorsed the declaration. “Pakistan is facing many challenges, and the media can play an important role in determining which way the country will go,” said I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarian and lead counsel for the “non-functional” Chief Justice, also stressed that “the moment must not be lost”, and that the media should realise its own strength to determine the course of the present “movement”.

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