Imtiaz Alam plays down the importance of civil awards

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published March 11, 2019

ISLAMABAD - With  Arshad Sharif of ARY News and newscaster Ishrat Fatima named to receive the President's Award for Pride of Performance on March 23, a veteran journalist has played down the importance of these honors.

In an Urdu tweet, analyst and journalist Imtiaz Alam tried to play down the importance of the awards. He said: “We know the reality of presidential and pride of performance awards. We also know the reality of why some get it, and some don’t.”

ھمیں صدارتی اعزازات اور حُسنِ کارکردگی کے تمغوں کی حقیقت کا پتا ہے۔ جسے ملتا ہے اُس کی اصلئیت بھی پتا ہے اور جسے نہیں ملتا اُس کی حقیقت بھی معلوم ہے۔
غا لب خوب کہ گئے:
بازیچہ اطفال ہے دُنیا میرے آگے
ہوتا ہے شب و روز تماشہ میرے آگے

— Imtiaz Alam (@ImtiazAlamSAFMA) March 10, 2019

Matiullah Jan, formerly of Waqt News called for boycotting such awards in protest against the “economic murder” of journalists.

He pointed out that the journalists getting these awards should stand with the protesting journalists, otherwise history would not forgive them.

صدارتی و دیگر اعزازات کے لئیے نامزد صحافیوں سے اپیل ہے کہ حکومتی میڈیا پالیسی کے باعث ساتھی صحافیوں کے معاشی قتل عام کے خلاف احتجاجا” یہ ایوارڈز لینے سے انکار کریں اور ہزاروں صحافیوں اور میڈیا ورکروں کے ساتھ یکجہتی کا اظہار کریں ورنہ تاریخ معاف نہ کریگی-

— Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) March 10, 2019

As ISPR Director General Asif Ghafoor and Arshad Sharif shared complimentary tweets on getting the award, Hasan Zaidi termed the exchange: “A love story in two tweets.”

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