PFUJ condemns decision to refuse entry to CPJ official
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 18 October 2019
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The PFUJ has expressed strong discontent over the decision to bar CPJ's Steven Butler from entering Pakistan. This incident underscores ongoing challenges to media freedoms in the country.Summary
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has condemned the Pakistani authorities' decision to refuse entry to Steven Butler, Asia Program Coordinator of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) who had landed in Lahore with a valid visa.
In a joint statement, President of PFUJ Afzal Butt and General-Secretary Ayub Khan Sarhindi said that denying entry to Butler is another proof of worsening media freedom in Pakistan.
An official at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore told Butler that his journalist visa was valid, but his name was on a stop list of the interior ministry.
PFUJ leaders have demanded a probe as to why and who ordered to deny entry to the office-bearer of the top journalist body.
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KEY POINTS:
- PFUJ condemns decision to deny entry to Steven Butler.
- Butler arrived in Lahore with a valid journalist visa.
- His name was allegedly on an interior ministry stop list.
- PFUJ demands an investigation into the entry denial.
- This incident illustrates the deteriorating media landscape in Pakistan.
