ISLAMABAD, 6 June 2007 — Police said yesterday they have registered a case against about 200 journalists for defying a rally ban in the capital by protesting curbs on the media.
Although no arrests were made immediately, the move came a day after hundreds of journalists, lawyers and opposition supporters rallied in Islamabad to protest the imposition of an emergency ordinance by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that tightened the regulation of electronic media, including private television channels that he has accused of anti-government bias.
“This presidential decree is another brick in the wall of censorship that the government is building to shield itself at a time of political upheaval,” said Joel Simon, executive director of the international media group Committee to Protect Journalists. “We call on the government to rescind the decree immediately.”
US Sen. Joseph Biden and Rep. Tom Lantos, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: “Over the past two months, we have witnessed the spiral of civil unrest and harshly suppressed protest in Pakistan with increasing concern.
“The national interests of the United States and Pakistan are both served by a speedy restoration of full democracy to Pakistan and the end to state-sponsored intimidation — often violent — of Pakistani citizens protesting government actions in a legal and peaceful manner.”
Shamim-ur-Rehman, president of the Karachi Union of Journalists, called the ordinance an effort by the government to suppress their voices, but he said they would not let it happen.
Hundreds of opposition activists who took part in rallies brought out by journalists were also arrested during raids in different cities of Punjab.
