PAKISTAN
NOVEMBER 14, 2005 Posted: December 2, 2004 Mast FM 103 CENSORED The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PERMA) raided the Karachi-based Mast FM 103, seizing its transmission equipment and halting its broadcasts, according to press reports. The station was accused of violating the ban on the rebroadcast of foreign news, in this case a BBC…
CPJ Condemns Pakistani Governments ban on ads
New York, May 27, 2005—The Pakistani government has banned state-sponsored advertising in two newspapers owned by a leading conservative media company, the Urdu-language daily Nawa-i-Waqt and the English-language daily The Nation. According to reports in The Nation, last week’s ban was implemented in direct retaliation for an April ad that both dailies ran from the…
PAKISTAN
MAY 3, 2005 Posted: May 4, 2005 Many Journalists HARASSED, ATTACKED The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attacks by police on journalists in the cities of Lahore and Islamabad. During peaceful demonstrations in honor of World Press Freedom Day, approximately 50 journalists were injured when police baton-charged demonstrators marching in the center of Lahore,…
Pakistani journalist acquitted of treason charges
New York, April 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision of an antiterrorism court in the southwestern city of Quetta to acquit Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and his two associates, Allah Noor and Abdullah Shakir, of treason. Judge Shaukat Ali Rakhshani acquitted the three on Saturday because of lack of evidence by the prosecution,…
CPJ condemns attacks on Pakistani journalists covering opposition
New York, April 19, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a series of police attacks and acts of obstruction aimed at journalists covering the opposition Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) activities on Friday and Saturday. CPJ today called on authorities to punish those responsible for the abuses. About 50 journalists traveling with Asif Ali Zardari—opposition leader…
PAKISTAN
APRIL 14, 2005 Posted: April 27, 2005 Kamran Mumtaz, Daily Mashriq ATTACKED, THREATENED Daily MashriqTHREATENED A group of five armed men stormed into the office of the Daily Mashriq in the southwestern city of Quetta around 2:30 p.m. and assaulted Mumtaz, the editor, because of the newspaper’s allegedly biased reporting about a local political party.
Attacks on the Press 2004: Pakistan
Pakistan As a key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, intensified efforts to capture al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives in 2004. Musharraf also grew increasingly agitated by local and international reporting on alleged terrorist activities inside the country, deeming such coverage “antistate.” Journalists covering these sensitive issues faced growing obstacles…
Attacks on the Press 2003: Pakistan
Although the press in Pakistan enjoyed greater freedom under its president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, journalists there still operate under pressure from the military, religious hard-liners, intelligence agencies, and the country’s antiquated blasphemy laws.