JournalismPakistan.com
June 16, 2023
ISLAMABAD—Key media stakeholders have urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to urgently fulfill his pending promise of operationalizing the Federal Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, passed in 2021, to allow journalists to combat impunity of crimes against them.
This appeal came in a meeting of the federal chapter of the Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition (PJSC), a grouping of journalist representative bodies, national and international media watchdogs, human rights commissions, digital rights groups, human rights advocates, and political parties, among others, in a meeting held in Islamabad on June 15, 2023.
PJSC successfully influenced the process of the passage of the federal and Sindh legislation, both of which made Pakistan the first country in the world to specifically legislate on the safety of journalists inspired by the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and Issues of Impunity. The PJSC is currently working with the Sindh Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Other Media Professionals.
The PJSC meeting also expressed concern at the ongoing wave of intimidation against journalists in the country and repeated attempts by the previous and present governments to make media and free speech-related laws and regulations more draconian.
The meeting pointed out that dozens of journalists have been arrested, kidnapped, assaulted, and injured since the passage of the Federal Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, passed in 2021, but could not benefit from it without a safety commission. It noted that the Imran Khan and Shahbaz Sharif governments have failed to notify a commission and appoint a chairperson to operationalize the law.
It unanimously passed a resolution demanding the following from the federal government:
Among others, the meeting was attended by PJSC Federal Chapter Chairperson Hamid Mir, Chairperson of Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights Chaudhry Shafique, National Press Club representative Saeed Ahmed, Women Journalists Association representative Myra Imran, Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan representative Adnan Amir, Alliance for Diversity and Pluralism representative Muhammad Aftab Alam, Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak and International Media Support representative Adnan Rehmat.
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