(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 22 December 1998 WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alert of 16 December 1998** Paris, 22 December 1998 For immediate release WAN Protests Pakistan’s Harassment of Journalists The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has protested against recent measures taken by the Pakistani government to harass the press and called on […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 22 December 1998 WAN press release:
**Updates IFEX alert of 16 December 1998**
Paris, 22 December 1998
For immediate release
WAN Protests Pakistan’s Harassment of Journalists
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has protested against recent
measures taken by the Pakistani government to harass the press and called on
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stand by his promise to support press
freedom.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Paris-based WAN said recent economic
measures employed by the government against the press constituted a
violation of press freedom. It called on Mr Sharif to “disassociate your
government from what the international community has come to perceive as a
systematic attempt to browbeat and silence the
Pakistani press.”
“Several newspapers were presented with unwarranted income tax notices,
demands to deposit large sums against future taxes, frozen bank accounts and
withdrawal of government advertisements,” said the letter from WAN, the
global association of the newspaper industry.
“These measures represent a means of controlling the independent media by
reducing the economic viability of the newspapers concerned, and constitute
a violation of press freedom,” said the letter, signed by WAN President
Bengt Braun.
WAN called on Prime Minister Sharif to supress the economic measures “and to
stand by your pledge of supporting press freedom.”
The association, which represents 15,000 newspapers world-wide, also
protested against raids on three newspapers and two private homes by
government intelligence agents. It also protested assaults on journalists
by the police and illegal arrests.
“We urge you to both keep your police forces under strict control and to
punish those involved to dissuade them from further acts of such kind,” said
WAN.
“Police aggression towards the press is particularly disturbing in the
context of a general violence toward journalists that can be discerned in
your country,” the letter said, referring to the recent murders of two
journalists.
WAN defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. Its membership includes
57 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 90
countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional press organizations.
