Pakistan Press Foundation

(PPF/IFEX) – Zulfiqar Ali Khaskheli, a correspondent in the town of Nawabshah for the Hyderabad-based, Sindhi-language daily “Ibrat”, was severely beaten by police. It is feared that he may lose his eyesight and hearing. The journalist was beaten so severely that he had to be admitted to the People’s Medical College Hospital in Nawabshah. Visitors […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 31 March 2004, Munawar Mohsin, a subeditor of the Peshawar-based national daily “Frontier Post”, was scheduled to appear in court. His appeal was postponed, however, because his lawyer, Zhur-ul Haq, had a scheduling conflict. No new date was set for the examination of Mohsin’s appeal. The bench consisted of Justices Tariq Pervaiz […]

(PPF/IFEX) – Two people, including a journalist, were kidnapped by armed men on the night of 4 March 2004 in the city of Sukkur (Sindh province). Shahbaz Pathan, a correspondent for the Sindhi daily “Halchal”, was playing badminton with five friends when several armed men tried to kidnap them. Local residents chased the kidnappers, forcing […]

(PPF/IFEX) – In the early morning of 1 March 2004, unidentified gunmen conducted coordinated raids on newspaper distribution points in various parts of Karachi. They took bundles of newspapers, set them ablaze and fled. According to media reports, armed youths raided newspaper depots at New Challi, Old Numaish, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Saddar, Hussainabad and Water-Pump (in the […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 2 March 2004, the Quetta city offices of the daily “Jang”, which also houses the offices of Geo television station, were the target of an arson attack. The incident occurred during rioting that followed the firing by armed men on a Shiite religious procession. According to staff members, about 20 rioters came […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On the night of 29 February 2004, protesters demonstrating against a private television station attacked the Karachi Press Club (KPC), seriously wounding a guard and damaging the club’s property. According to media reports, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the KPC’s premises and chanted slogans against a programme aired by Geo television station, which […]

(PPF/IFEX) – Arif Nizami, editor of the daily “The Nation” and executive editor of the daily “Nawa-i-Waqt”, says the government has banned the placement of government advertisements in newspapers belonging to the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications, one of Pakistan’s leading media organisations. According to press reports, Nizami said the ban contradicts Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah […]

(PPF/IFEX) – On 8 January 2004, Karachi Additional District and Session Judge Abdul Malik gave a sentence of life imprisonment to Aziz Qureshi, the accused in the bombing of the Karachi advertising office of the national Urdu-language daily “Nawa-i-Waqt”. Four persons, including a woman who was reportedly carrying the bomb, were killed in the blast […]