ISLAMABAD, March 16 (Online): Terming the press freedom in Pakistan still a goal to be achieved Peace Council of Pakistan in its report 2005 said that incidents of unidentified men rampaging tend ransacking newspaper offices in various cities and subsequent official apathy to catch the culprits are only signs of the hostile environment in which Pakistani journalist function.
According to a Report 2005, Peace Council of Pakistan, the will of the state to free the press is, however, not evident against the backdrop of the introduction of laws as Draconian as the one concerning defamation.
Similarly, the state has not shown any interest in repealing a plethora of laws that only restrict the flow of information to the people, the report said.
The journalists, therefore, are given as much freedom as the government tolerates and are always in danger of being subjected to legal proceedings in case they cross a certain line that is defined by the powerful interests.
Journalist Unions in Pakistan may not be wrong in complaining that pressures and harassment continued to be the main weapons of the government and their agencies to curb the press during 2005.
More than once, journalists and press photographers were subjected to violence when they tried to report events that the government wanted to downplay.
The report says that incidents of unidentified men rampaging tend ransacking newspaper offices in various cities and subsequent official apathy to catch the culprits are only signs of the hostile environment in which journalist function.
The reports says that the information blockade during the operations in Wana, Balochistan, and the Northern Areas indicates that the press is not as free as the government may like us to believe.
Meanwhile the fact that the free press and democracy are intertwined and mutually enforceable only illustrates the need of the repeal of all laws that exist as obstacles to the people’s right to know.
The Government in Pakistan could only establish its democratic credentials by freeing the press and allowing it access to information that is vital for people to make electoral decisions and choices.
The report underlines that Democracy cannot flourish in the absence of a free press.
