Articles by Pakistan Press Foundation
Police raid television news offices in Islamabad
(PPF/IFEX) – On March 16, 2007, police entered the Geo News office building in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, shattered glass and started shelling within office premises. Geo Television is part of the Jang Group, Pakistan’s largest media group. According to the television network, a large number of policemen entered the office, manhandling journalists […]
Journalists beaten by police in Islamabad, at least 15 injured
(PPF/IFEX) – Police in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad resorted to a baton charge on journalists covering the suicide bomb blast outside a five-star hotel on 25 January 2007. Fifteen journalists suffered injuries, including wounds to the head. The incident occurred when an assistant superintendent of police ordered dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen covering […]
Government stops advertising in leading English-language daily; editors’ council condemns move
(PPF/IFEX) – The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) has condemned the government’s decision to stop advertising in the daily “Dawn”, the country’s largest circulation English-language newspaper. An emergency session of the CPNE on 16 January 2007 rejected use of advertisements as a pressure tactic to seek changes in the editorial policies of the newspaper. […]
Two Pakistani journalists arrested, detained, put on trial by Taliban
(PPF/IFEX) – Two Pakistani journalists have been arrested by members of the Taliban in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan and put on trial on unknown charges. Saleem Shahzad, correspondent of “The Star” daily and the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online, and another journalist, Qamar Yousafzai, have been detained by Taliban commander Matiullah. “The Star” […]
Abducted journalist released after being questioned, beaten and held for 24 hours
(PPF/IFEX) – Dilawar Khan Wazir, correspondent for BBC and Pakistan’s “Daily Dawn”, was released a day after being kidnapped. The journalist, who reached the BBC office in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, on the evening of 21 November 2006, said he had been held blindfolded and was kicked, slapped and questioned about his reporting […]
Journalist brutally tortured, then released; 6-year-old brother of slain journalist also murdered
(PPF/IFEX) – Saeed Sarbazi, senior sub-editor of “Business Recorder” daily newspaper and the joint secretary of the Karachi Press Club (KPC), returned home in the early hours of 23 September 2006, after being abducted three days earlier, allegedly by intelligence agents. According to Sarbazi, he was dropped from a truck, blind-folded, in a suburb of […]
Three television journalists severely beaten by police; cable operators told to stop broadcasting television channel
(PPF/IFEX) – Police in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, brutally assaulted and injured two journalists and a cameraman on 17 September 2006. The journalists were assaulted by the police at the venue of a public rally by a religious political party. According to Wadood Mushtaq, senior reporter of the television channel […]
Reporter brutally assaulted and humiliated
(PPF/IFEX) – On 29 August 2006, a journalist based in a rural town in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province was abducted, brutally beaten, stripped and had his moustache and eyebrows shaven off for writing a news report critical of the local town mayor. According to press reports, Umer Soomro, correspondent for “Shaam” daily newspaper in the […]