IFJ Asia-Pacific (www.ifj-asia.org/)
Media under attack in Pakistan
The International Federation of Journalists is liaising closely with colleagues on the ground in Pakistan to defend free speech and to protect journalists in the wake of the President’s stringent crackdown on free speech on 3 November.
The emergency decrees issued by Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf, are a direct attack on media personnel and institutions and the IFJ fully supports media workers in Pakistan in their courageous defiance of the crackdown.
While the Government attempts to apply censorship across the board, print media is continuing to report critically. However, television outlets are feeling the brunt of the attack, with bans on private television and radio broadcasts. Military personnel have raided television stations and journalists and activists have been detained. After a year-long government campaign to clamp down on independent, free and critical reportage, journalists in Pakistan are entering even more dangerous territory and need international support more than ever.
In cooperation with its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, http://www.pfuj.info/ the IFJ is organising a series of actions to protest the attack on media in Pakistan and to call for the restoration of free expression.
* Letter-writing campaign: IFJ affiliates around the world are sending protest letters to Pakistan Embassies.
* 15 November 2007, Global Day of Action: Freedom of expression supporters will rally at Pakistan Embassies and lobby their home governments to call for democracy and press freedom in Pakistan. Details will be announced shortly.
* Monitoring: An informal national network in Pakistan will report on abuses of media workers (including attacks, arrests and threats) and seek to generate international condemnation of the Government for actively promoting such abuses.
