By IANS
Islamabad : The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed its concern at the declining press freedom in the country, especially since Nov 3 when emergency was imposed.
According to the recent World Press Freedom Index, Pakistan is the third most dangerous country in the world for journalists after Iraq and Somalia.
“It is deplorable that with each passing day, Pakistan’s position in terms of press freedom is declining,” said Sherry Rehman, the PPP’s central information secretary.
She condemned the killing of Zubair Ahmed and other journalists, who lost their lives this year while performing their duties, reports The News.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed was shot dead by an unidentified man on a motorcycle on Nov 23 in Mirpur Khas in the southern Sindh province.
President of the Mirpur Khas Press Club and a senior journalist with the leading Urdu daily Jang, Ahmed wrote a weekly column in which he often criticised the police and landowners for mistreating the poor.
Rehman said the PPP was committed to the cause of media freedom and shared the vision of all independent journalists for a free media in the country.
“The PPP is very clear in its stance that it will not allow Pakistan to become a dark example of press freedom. The regime has done much to intimidate the journalists, and the media organisations to stop them from disseminating unfavourable content.”
Since emergency was imposed in Pakistan Nov 3, crackdowns on the press have worsened.
“The new laws passed on Nov 3 are a death warrant for some of the privately-owned television and radio news stations that have emerged in recent years,” said Reporters Without Borders.
“Pervez Musharraf has been destroying all the press freedom gains one by one,” the organisation said. “If the laws are disobeyed the government has the right to seize newspapers or to confiscate equipment from broadcast media.”