(PPF/IFEX) – On 7 February 1999, in a meeting which lasted nearly five hours, the government promised to restore the Jang Group’s newsprint quota and also remove police from outside the offices of the “Jang” and “The News” dailies. The Jang Group’s chief executive of newspapers, Mir Shakil ur Rehman, Punjab Chief Shabaz Sharif, Information […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 7 February 1999, in a meeting which lasted nearly five
hours, the government promised to restore the Jang Group’s newsprint
quota and also remove police from outside the offices of the “Jang” and
“The News” dailies. The Jang Group’s chief executive of newspapers, Mir
Shakil ur Rehman, Punjab Chief Shabaz Sharif, Information Minster
Mushahid Hussain, Federal Law Minister Khalid Anwar, Federal Minister
for Petroleum and Natural Resources Chaudary Nisar and Chairman Ehtesab
Bureau Senator Saif ur Rehman all attended the meeting.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 8 February, 5 February, 3 February, 2 February,
1 February and 8 January 1999, 16 December and 15 December 1998**
According to news reports, Mir Shakil demanded that the government
release newsprint for which payment had already been made, the
withdrawal of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and police personnel
from outside the group’s offices, and the unfreezing of accounts. Mir
Shakil told his workers that the government has accepted most of their
demands: “A goodwill gesture has been shown by the government but we
still have to go a long way and such meetings will continue.”
Senator Rehman explained that the government had not intended to impose
any press curbs, nor did it take any legal action against the Jang
Group. Rehman said that Mir Shakil regretted making informal telephone
conversations public. He claimed that newsprint had been released, as
per Supreme Court orders, some of the Jang Group’s accounts have been
unfrozen to allow payment of workers’ salaries, and FIA personnel have
been removed from the newspapers’ offices.
Mir Shakil, however, denied the end of the government-Jang dispute. The
Jang Group spokesperson said that the above agreements each stood
independently, and the group awaited their implementation. The
spokesperson said that they regretted the misleading news item released
by the government-controlled Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news
agency. The Jang Group said that only the implementation of their
demands would prove the government’s desire to protect freedom of the
press.
