Articles by Pakistan Press Foundation
Video shops attacked, TVs, VCRs burnt
On 12 April 2000, “Islami Tehrik-e-Taliban” activists attacked video shops and destroyed video cassettes, televisions and VCRs in the town of Miranshah, in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal area of Waziristan bordering Afghanistan. According to press reports, the Tehrik had earlier warned that video shop owners, drug traffickers and others involved in immoral businesses would suffer dire […]
Newspaper office ransacked
On Monday 24 January 2000, armed men barged into the offices of the Sindhi daily “Halchal” and proceeded to manhandle staff and ransack the office. According to reports, armed persons allegedly belonging to the Asif Ali Zardari Release Committee, forced their entry into the office and threatened the staff members with dire consequences for publishing […]
Journalist dies after torture ordeal in police custody
(PPF/IFEX) – Nawaz Zulfiqar Memon, a young journalist, has died in Thatta after being severely tortured by law enforcement agencies. Memon, 29, a district reporter for “The Daily Nation” in Thatta (100 kilometres from Karachi), had gone to Islamabad in a bid to seek justice from Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf when he was taken […]
Journalists manhandled
(PPF/IFEX) – On 19 November 1999, a number of persons, including journalists, were beaten up by law enforcement agency personnel when the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, went before the anti-terrorism court in Karachi. The police had resorted to the “baton charging” of all those present outside the court, including many journalists trying to enter […]
Supreme Court issues notices of contempt for comments on judiciary
(PPF/IFEX) – On 20 October 1999, the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued notices of contempt of court to prominent columnist Ardesher Cowasjee and to the managing director of the state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) for commenting about the judiciary in a programme telecast live on 19 October. A press release issued by the office of […]
Journalists beaten
(PPF/IFEX) – Two press photographers covering a rally organised by opposition parties were manhandled by police officers in Karachi on 1 September 1999. Saeed Iqbal of the Sindhi-language newspaper “Hilal–Pakistan” and Mohammed Farooq of the Associated Press (AP) were beaten up. Iqbal was beaten so severely that he had to be admitted to the hospital. […]
Magazine editor and staffer arrested, later released
(PPF/IFEX) – The editor and an employee of the weekly magazine “Pakistan News” were arrested in Karachi on 8 July 1999. Police also ransacked the magazine’s offices and seized copies of the magazine from newsagents throughout the province. According to police, Naveed Shad Arain and Nisar Mehmood, an editor and a staffer with the magazine, […]
India blocks Pakistani newspaper web site
(PPF/IFEX) – According to PPF, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), India’s sole gateway to the Internet, has blocked the web site of Pakistan’s leading English language daily newspaper, “Dawn”. According to “The Times of India”, Internet users in India have been unable to connect to the “Dawn” website for more than a week. A VSNL […]