Government's high-handedness unacceptable: Dawn

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 18 February 2022

Dawn newspaper criticized the PTI government's actions against the media, highlighting the arrests of key journalists. The editorial stresses the growing threat to press freedom in Pakistan.

Summary

ISLAMABAD—Dawn newspaper on Friday termed the arrest of the editor of a local newswire Mohsin Baig and torture of anchorperson Iqrar ul Hasan an obvious display of the PTI government's contempt for the freedom of speech.

In an editorial—High-handed tactics— the paper maintained that the media environment, and more broadly the right to freedom of speech, has become increasingly constricted in Pakistan. "The PTI government's intolerance of dissent and its hostility towards the media has created a situation where journalists are seen as fair game for trolling, character assassination and worse."

Mohsin Baig, the owner of Online News Agency, was arrested from his home in Islamabad after Minister for Communication Murad Saeed filed a request with FIA.

In a talk show, Baig hinted that Murad was declared the best minister not because of his performance but because of his "illicit" relations with Prime Minister Imran Khan, as narrated by the second wife of the premier, Reham Khan, in her book. At the time of arrest, there was a scuffle and Baig was seen holding a gun and grabbing an FIA officer.

The minister on Thursday announced going to court against Reham Khan also.

The editorial added that television host Syed Iqrarul Hassan leveled serious allegations against officials of the Intelligence Bureau. "According to the journalist, the intelligence personnel detained him and his colleagues for hours at the agency's Karachi office after they attempted to expose an IB inspector's alleged corruption and subjected them to extreme torture and humiliation."

However, the editorial seemed to politely question Hassan's brand of journalism and how Baig was allowed to make allegations against the Minister for Communication and the prime minister in the talk show G for Gharidah. It also asked, "TV channels that they revisit their codes of conduct." But the paper maintained that the high-handedness exercised by the government was "unacceptable."

The paper advised the government to sometimes ignore some of the fights at the end. "Sometimes it is better to let sleeping dogs lie."