(PPF/IFEX) – On 2 January 2002, authorities in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, imposed a thirty-day ban on the publication of the daily “Dopehar”, for publishing a news item headlined “Differences in Federal Cabinet.” The police chief of the area conveyed the Islamabad’s chief commissioner’s verbal order to Aqeel Ahmed Tareen, “Dopehar” resident editor, and a […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 2 January 2002, authorities in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, imposed
a thirty-day ban on the publication of the daily “Dopehar”, for publishing a news item headlined “Differences in Federal Cabinet.”
The police chief of the area conveyed the Islamabad’s chief commissioner’s verbal order to Aqeel Ahmed Tareen, “Dopehar” resident editor, and a police contingent surrounded the newspaper’s offices. Subsequently, the newspaper was served with written orders confirming its closure for thirty days.
The All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) has strongly protested against the arbitrary ban and termed it a contravention of press freedom, as enshrined in Article 19 of Pakistan’s constitution. In a statement, APNS Secretary-General Kazi Asad Abid said that if the news item was not correct the authorities had the right to contradict it. He urged the government to immediately withdraw the ban.
