Pakistan Press Foundation

(PPF/IFEX) – On 14 April 2005, five armed men from the regional political party Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) stormed into the office of “Daily Mashriq” newspaper in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and assaulted the paper’s executive editor, Kamran Mumtaz. According to a press report, the attackers were angry over the absence of statements […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 3 March 2005, a homemade bomb was thrown into the home of Khurshid Ahmed, president of the press club in Gilgit, capital city of Pakistan’s Northern Areas. Press reports quoting Ahmed, who is the bureau chief of the Islamabad-based, Urdu-language daily “Khabrain”, speculated that the attack may have been in retaliation for […]

(PPF/IFEX) – The following is an 8 February 2005 joint letter to Nepali King Gyanendra. IFEX member organisations that have signed on to the letter are listed below: His Excellency King Gyanendra Kathmandu Nepal 8 February 2005 We, the undersigned members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) in South Asia, are gravely concerned […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 January 2005, at about 2:00 a.m. (local time), about 30 to 35 unidentified people riding on motorcycles attacked the head office of the Jang Group of Publications in Karachi. They opened fire, beat the building’s security staff, ransacked parts of the building and set fire to vehicles in the parking lot. […]

(PPF/IFEX) – The federal government has resorted to the use of advice and the suspension of advertisements in an effort to persuade newspapers to tone down their coverage of sectarian violence in Pakistan’s Northern Areas and an unrelated incident of alleged gang rape involving a female doctor in a sensitive area of Balochistan province, which […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 14 January 2005, 10 persons, including nine journalists, were injured when activists of a sectarian religious organisation attacked the Lahore Press Club (LPC), in the capital city of Punjab province. The attackers threw stones and bricks, smashing cars parked at the club, as well as the LPC building’s window panes. Activists of […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 November 2004, police posted at the Civil Secretariat in Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, assaulted Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui, a senior reporter for the English-language daily “Dawn”, when he tried to enter the premises. According to Siddiqui, who was quoted in local press reports, two police constables in uniform and […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 11 November 2004, journalist Munnawar Mohsin Ali, subeditor of the daily “Frontier Post”, was acquitted by the Peshawar High Court, in the North West Frontier Province. He had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment for blasphemy. A two-member bench accepted Ali’s appeal and set aside his earlier conviction. On 8 July 2003, […]