Articles by Pakistan Press Foundation
Militant cleric issues fatwa against fashion magazine staff, police file obscenity charges
(PPF/IFEX) – A leading militant mosque in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad issued a death decree against the staff of the monthly magazine “Octane” for publishing a fashion-shoot entitled “Adam and Eve” that showed two models in revealing costumes. The religious decree, or fatwa, was issued on 16 June 2007 by Maulana Abdul Aziz, head […]
Government to withdraw draconian amendments to electronic media laws
(PPF/IFEX) – Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf has said the government would withdraw the controversial amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) law, enacted on 4 June 2007. Musharraf announced the decision after meeting with a delegation of the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) on 9 June. The PBA informed the president that they […]
Journalists not provided press cards, denied entry to Parliament building
(PPF/IFEX) – On 7 June 2007, the Speaker of the National Assembly barred journalists from Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament. According to press reports, journalists who had come to cover the budget session were refused entry to the Parliament building. This is viewed as a retaliatory measure by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain against the 5 […]
Government further tightens law for electronic media
(PPF/IFEX) – On June 4, 2007, President Pervez Musharraf promulgated the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance (2007), which gives sweeping powers to the state regulator to take punitive action against the country’s private electronic media. The ordinance empowers the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to seize broadcasters’ equipment, seal their premises and […]
Transmission of leading television news channels blocked
(PPF/IFEX) – Transmission of three leading private television news channels has been intermittently blocked in many parts of Pakistan since 1 June 2007, apparently in an attempt by the government to control the media coverage of the crisis that has engulfed the country since President Pervez Musharraf suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry […]
Government prohibits television coverage of presidential reference on judicial controversy
(PPF/IFEX) – The Pakistan government has prohibited independent television channels from televising programmes, including live talk shows and discussions, on the issue of the presidential reference against the suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The presidential reference is a legal indictment against the Chief Justice, that was sent to a court comprised of […]
Bullets found in cars of three journalists in Karachi; journalists whose names appear on MRC “hit list” consider themselves under threat
(PPF/IFEX) – In what is being described as a death threat, on 29 May 2007, bullets were found planted on cars belonging to three journalists in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. Identical envelopes, each containing a bullet for a 30-bore TT pistol, were taped on the windscreens of cars belonging to Mazhar […]
Journalist’s house attacked with hand grenades
(PPF/IFEX) – Unidentified persons lobbed two hand grenades at the house of journalist Nasrullah Afridi on 26 May 2007, damaging the boundary wall and veranda. Afridi, the correspondent for the daily “Mashriq” in the tribal Khyber Agency, was publicly threatened the previous week by a leader of Lashkar-i-Islam, a militant Islamic organisation. Fortunately no one […]