KARACHI:Karachi Union of journalists has strongly condemned the issuance of notices to the 14 news channels by PEMRA, demanding their withdrawal immediately.
Expressing its concerns, the KUJ in a statement said that the government was strangulating the free voices of the media days in and day out, putting the constitutional provision of freedom of press in abeyance.
“Article 19 A guarantees protection of individual right of free expression of views as well as a free media but the PEMRA has been violating the constitution by issuing arbitrary notices to the news channel,” said Ashraf Khan, the president of the KUJ.
Earlier, the PEMRA had issued advisory to the News TV channels for abstaining broadcast news and views on the issue of the judiciary after a controversial reference against the honorable judge. “Both the advisory and now the notices are condemnable and they amount to forfeit the right of free media,” commented Ahmed Khan Malik, the general secretary of the KUJ.
The KUJ also expressed its solidarity with the Pakistan Bar Council, Sindh Bar Council and the Karachi Bar Association for their respective resolutions against the presidential reference against Justice Faaiz Esa.
The journalists’ community of Karachi and all over the country stands shoulder to shoulder with the lawyer community against their justied stance against the tyrant actions of the government against honorable judges, the statement said