At an emergency meeting in Washington, the Pakistani-American Press Association (PAPA) strongly condemned the recent police raid at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to take punitive action against those responsible.
The participants also expressed their concern over recent efforts to muzzle the media by harassing journalists and holding some of them in illegal custody.
They urged the government to promote media freedoms, instead of bringing new curbs against them, as ultimately such curbs will hurt all political forces, including those in power.
The participants noted that some media owners refuse to pay journalists and now that the Supreme Court was forcing them to pay, they were sacking media workers.
They noted that journalists were the backbone of the media industry and unless they were paid, they could function.
They noted that those security agencies who raided KPC were now trying to sabotage the ongoing country-wide protest against this “forcible intrusion@ by detaining and harassing the protesters.
The meeting urged the Sindh governor, chief minister, Corps Commander Karachi, director general of Sindh Rangers and the inspector general of Sindh Police to take notice of the harassment of journalists and efforts to undermine freedom of the press.
PAPA also announced its support to journalists’ struggle to protect their rights, including the freedom to express their views without external intrusion.
Published in Daily Times, November 13th 2018.
