Govt condemned for biased attitude against press
By our correspondent
KOTRI: Political leaders, social organisers and journalists on Monday condemned the government for adopting vindictive measures against the Jang Group of Newspapers.
Former PPP ministers Haji Zafar Leghari, Haji Siddique Shoro, PPP District General Secretary Ameer Bux Halipoto, Chief of Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Kotri, Abdul Latif, Chairman Sub-Divisional Khidmat Committee, Aziz Memon, Advocate Ghulam Dastagir A Sultan and other labour and social leaders criticised the biased attitude of the rulers against newspapers and journalists.
The speakers also termed the government's move as an act of cowardice. Meanwhile, President Kotri Press Club (KPC) Shahabuddin Junejo, senior journalists A Rasheed Ghaffari, Jalil Zareen Bangash, Sindh Journalist Alliance Organiser Dildar Janwari and others termed the government action as unlawful and unconstitutional. They claimed that the government would fail in its nefarious design to muzzle the press.
Our correspondent adds from Khairpur: Local journalists, politicians, traders and nationalists of the Khairpur district observed a day of solidarity with the Jang Group of publications. Members of the Khairpur Union of Journalists hoisted black flags on their offices and wore black arm bands to protest against the victimisation of the Jang Group of Newspapers.
Union president Mir Shakeel Ujjan, General Secretary Imtiaz Hussain and other journalists delivered speeches, expressing solidarity with the Jang Group. They said the government is targetting the freedom of the press by registering false cases against the newspapers and press workers.
They said Jang Group's policy is independent and impartial and that is why it is being subjected to pressure. PPP leader Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani said the PPP believes in the freedom of the press. After demolishing other institutions, the government has diverted its attention now toward the press, he said. He said these steps of the government had damaged the image of the country in the comity of nations.
Traders' body chairman Syed Sajjad Hussain said the press is the fourth pillar of the state, and it is the duty of the state to provide it constitutional facilities but the government is acting to the contrary. He said the steps of the government had drawn widespread condemnation.