Pakistan Press Foundation

(PPF/IFEX) – The following is a PPF press release: FM radio station’s operations suspended after police raid FM 103, a private FM radio station in Lahore, the capital of the central province of Punjab in Pakistan had to suspend its transmission after police took control of its premises on the evening of November 12, 2004. […]

(PPF/IFEX) – Pakistan’s national editors’ body, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), has strongly criticised a statement by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in which he warned media outlets against “glorifying terrorists” and said that anyone seen to be speaking on behalf of terrorists would be “considered a terrorist.” Speaking […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 14 September 2004, journalist Allah Waraio Bozdwar and his computer operator were attacked by four armed men at the journalist’s office in the rural area of Ghotki, Pakistan. According to reports, two days earlier, Waraio Bozdwar had an argument with police officer Niaz Chandio. As a result, Chandio went to Waraio Bozdwar’s […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 27 August 2004, two staff members for the independent television station Geo were mistreated by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) officials in Karachi. Reporter Mohammad Bin Yousaf and cameraman Mehboob Ali were trying to cover a narcotics raid for Geo. They introduced themselves to the ANF officials, who prevented them from filming the raid […]

(PPF/IFEX) – Rejecting the opposition’s objections, on 19 August 2004 the ruling coalition passed a controversial Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2004 in the National Assembly, Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament. The bill is mainly designed to protect public figures from slander by increasing punishment for offenders, including imprisonment of up to five years and/or a minimum […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 29 July 2004, the Pakistani government introduced to the National Assembly proposed amendments to Defamation Ordinance 2002, under which defamation had been declared a “criminal offence”. The amendments would increase prison sentences from three months to one year and fines from Rs 50,000 to Rs 300,000 (approx. US$900 to US$4,500). In cases […]

(PPF/IFEX) – The Pakistani government’s Ministry of Information has effectively banned the publication of all official advertisements in the independent, Urdu-language daily “Jinnah”, which began publishing in the capital, Islamabad, on 22 October 2003. The newspaper believes that the step was taken in retaliation for its independent editorial policy. Government advertisements constitute a vital source […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 10 July 2004, a senior government bureaucrat beat a woman journalist and locked her in a room for about an hour. According to press reports, Saima Zahoor, a reporter with the Urdu-language daily “Express”, had gone to meet with Asif Rahim, deputy secretary of the Environment Ministry, to seek his comments on […]