The Price of Journalism

dear temp

let me assure you that i am very pro democracy and pro all kind of rights...i obviously do not appreciate this step by the nawaz government...i cant understand why can they not let journalists in particular and everyone else in general perform independently...

I am also extremely liberal in thr true sense of the word...but i have serious reservations when the jounalists start critisizing the government right from the beginning...be it nawaz or bb...we want a strong government right now...pakistan is going thru a very crucial phase and we cant afford to have a weak prime minister...all journalists like beena should be asked just one question...who do they want to bring in as the alternative PM...when najam sethi spoke in delhi...he also referred to some institution bringing in the replacement...so i wonder which institution was he referring to...we have already seen a PM like that when Moeen Quereshi was brought in but to everyone`s utter dismay...he was a total faliure...Actually Nawaz is doing a good job specially when he has already been there and done that...if you would bring someone new how can you be sure that he/she would be a strong leader and one thing is for sure that a country like ours which has no mechanism of efficient administration can not survive without a leader...if you ask me i would say that instead of changing faces...change the system...the new self functional system should be based on the american model maybe with heavy reliance on academia(universities, profesors, research institutions)to control the policy matters and the day to day administration should be completely decentralized on zilla and tehsil levels...maybe i answered your question...maybe i could not but i tried...

NS`s comments to India reflect an open and profoundly passionate analysis of Pakistan`s problems. In contrast some of the questions posed by the Indian audience reflect the same tit-for-tat mentality that Pakistani/Indian psyche has made us so suspicious of each other - pretty much what NH was critiquing.

I agree completely with a reponse below. For all your SCOURGING cirticisms of the West, and all your exalting of nations of Islam, have your liberties suspended before you inspect a nations` corrupt and hypocritical exploitation of Islam which has taken away the very essence of what your religion calls supreme the, equality of ``mankind`` and equal people have equal rights of speech.

Clearly, there is no equality in Pakistan - the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments of the constituion of the United States signify the end of slavery and the period of reconstruction (at least on paper); while in no way do I hold the US as the upholer of democracy and human rights, what are our constitutional amendments but blind, desperate gropings od retarded idiots like Nawaz Sharif, his stooges, to grab as much and whatever they can lay their hands on -

beena!!

i think its high time that we all start doing something positive for our country...

a country which has given us so much...

please stop acting on your hidden and now not so hidden agenda...

every one in lahore knows who you are and what your priorities are...

Another incident to really show how ``sharif`` Nawaz

Sharif is. What is more disturbing and sad is the fact that when most of the world is preparing to enter the new millinium looking forward and hoping that the next century will bring in peace and more mutual understanding the ``sharif zadas`` of Pakistan have done all they could to drag the country back rather than forward.

I will irk many people by saying this , but I am glad in a way that the founding fathers of the nation are not around today to look at the state of the affairs.

After the Jang Group, the frontier Post, it`s now Mr Sethi. Benazir can be accused of many things , but even she did`nt take up on the press the way our ``sharif`` prime minister is doing.

Mr Sethi has been accused of tarnishing the image of Pakistan in India. As yet I havent heard of the Indian media giving importance to this issue. On the other hand the arrest of Mr Sethi will bring out this incident. And what Mr Sethi is supposed to have said in India ( if he even said it ! ) can hardly be objectionable to us Pakistanis. He would be merely stating the facts!!!!

I hope the journalist community of Pakistan makes the strongest protest againsr Mr Sethis arrest, and we the public support them fully.

Interview with Najam Sethi:

All times Indian Std Time.

First tx of Sethi interview (excerpts) on CNBC 2030-2100 Monday 10 may 99, and then repeated, as part of India Business Week.

Full text of Sethi interview planned for Thursday 13May`99, 40 minutes, time yet unfixed but likely 2100 hrs and then repeat again maybe 2300 hrs? But this was decided on Friday before all this happened!

What Najam Sethi said in his lecture in India is an absolute truth. All thinking Pakistanis know that. The government of Pakistan is using that lecture as an excuse to legitimize killing him. Those Pakistanis who have an iota of love for Pakistan must not let that happen.

Najam Sethi loves Pakistan more than all those running Pakistan combined.

Re: Feroz

I see an urgency of tying Western aid to Pakistan government`s deplorable behavior, as you said in another discussion of ours.

Maybe it`s a blessing in disguise that Pakistan government has brought the country to a point where without the foreign charity in Pakistan`s extended begging bowl, Pakistan cannot survive.

I say use this begging bowl to force Pakistan government to act in a way that is best for the country. Pakistan leadership has no self-respect or shame. I say don`t drop a nickel in its begging bowl until it changes its behavior. To start with, the government must let Najam Sethi go.

I hope a message like this one is being sent to the Western donors. Ironically, They are Pakistan`s last hope.

May 9, 1999

FYI the following statement is being faxed the Prime Minister of Pakistan and is being released to the World Media and Peace movement inititatives everywhere. Please circulate widely



8 May 1999, Amsterdam

We fellows of The Transnational Institute, scholars and activists from different parts of the world attending this international meeting strongly condemn the systematic harrasment of journalists, specifically those who have been opposing nuclearisation of Pakistan. We are deeply concerned at the recent spate of abductions and arrests of senior journalists like Najam Sethi and the ransacking of the house of Imtiaz Alam a noted columnist.

We also condemn the decision of Pakistani and Indian governments to celebrate the anniversary of Nuclear tests conducted on May 11 and 28 last year. We call upon the two governments to refrain from proceeding with Nuclear and Missile development. We demand that the five official

Nuclear weapons states immediatly initiate negotiations on complete Nuclear disarmament in accordance with their obligation under Article Nuclear disarmament in accordance with their obligation under Article 6 of the NPT, the mandate of the World court and the repeated request of the UN General assembly.

Signed by:

1. Karamat Ali (Pakistan)

2. Ari Sitas (South Africa)

3. Theo Roncken (Bolivia)

4. Karel Koster (Netherlands)

5. Danial Chavez (Uruguay)

6. Roger van Zwanenburg (Britain)

7. John Cavanagh (U.S.)

8. Daphne Wysham (U.S.)

9. Dot Keet (South Africa)

10. Peter Weiss (U.S.)

11.Amrita Chhachhi (India)

12. Phyllis Bennis (U.S.)

13. Praful Bidwai (India)

14. James Early (U.S.)

15.Cristine Estrada (Spain)

16. Mariano Aguirre (Spain)

17. Hilary Wainright (U.K.)

18. Howard Wachtel (U.S.)

19. Walden Bello (Philippines)

20. Joel Rocamora (Philippines)

21.Alex Weldhof (Netherlands)

22. Pauline Tiffen (U.K.)

23. Marieme Helie-Lucas (Algeria)

24.Ricardo Soberon (peru)

25.Coletta Youngers (U.S.)

26.Margarita Nanda Schulz (Argentina)

27.Martin Jelsma (Netherlands)

28. Oronto Douglas (Nigeria)

29. Tom Blickman (Netherlands)

30. Susan George (France)

31. Harsh Kapoor (India)

Matt Schillings

TNI - Office Manager

Paulus Potterstraat 20

1071 DA Amsterdam

the Netherlands

phone: +31-20-6626608

fax: +31-20-6757176

e-mail: tni-office@worldcom.nl

Call for countrywide protest against Sethi`s arrest

LAHORE (IPS): The arrest on Friday night of Najam Sethi, Chief Editor of the popular Lahore-based English-language weekly The Friday Times has once again galvanised Pakistani civil rights activists into launching a protest against what they term as the Nawaz Sharif government`s increasingly fascist tactics against dissent.

An emergency meeting convened by Committee for Free Press at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday condemned what it termed as Sethi`s illegal arrest, and demanded his immediate release. The meeting also feared for his physical elimination.

There was a consensus among those who attended, including dozens of leading journalists, civil rights activists, lawyers and politicians, that Sethi`s arrest and victimization was part of the process to dismantle democracy.

A resolution was passed at the meeting expressing complete solidarity with the arrested editor and his publication and condemning the highhandedness of the unlawful arrest. Vowing to continue the struggle for the freedom of press and expression, the meeting called for a country wide protest on May 13.

May 13 is traditionally observed in Pakistan as Freedom of Expression and Press Day by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and its member bodies and supporters, to commemorate the `black day` under Gen. Ziaul Haq`s dictatorship when three journalists were flogged in 1978 for protesting against the forcible closure of an opposition newspaper by the military government.

More than twenty years later, there is freedom of the press. ‘’But it is selective freedom,’’ as the veteran politician Nawabzada Nasrullah, president of the Pakistan Awami Ittehad party, said at a meeting called by the Committee for Free Press at the Lahore Press Club on May 7, in the same hall where Najam Sethi had addressed a press conference the day before to reveal how he was being pressurised for having given an interview to the BBC.

‘’The press is free to write anything about the opposition, but that is all. This is naked dictatorship,’’ observed Nasrullah, widely respected as a long-time upholder of democracy. ‘’This government has passed the 14th Amendment which disallows members of parliament from voting against their party’s decisions, and the 13th Amendment which strips the president of his powers. The attempt to pass the 15th Amendment failed; that would have given the government the powers to decide what is morally and religious right or wrong. ‘’What they want is kingship, Mughal-style.’’

‘’There is freedom of the press, but journalists are not allowed to enjoy it,’’ commented President of the PFUJ, I.H. Rashed at the same meeting. He reminded the participants that it was just a couple of months ago that they had all gathered at the same venue to protest against the government’s high-handedness against the Jang Group of Newspapers.

‘’That arm-twisting had brought journalists from all over the country on one platform along with human rights organisations, trade unions and politicians,’’ he said. ‘’Once again we are going through the same process.’’

Over a hundred participants from all these sections of society who were present at the meeting strongly condemned the arrest of Frontier Post’s Rehmat Shah Afridi, the detention of The News’ M.A.K. Lodhi, and of columnist and political activist Hussain Haqqani and decided to strategise about the next move. They didn’t have a chance to proceed in any systematic manner: that night, Najam Sethi was arrested as he had feared, bringing them all together again at the Press Club the next afternoon.

The government, while refusing to reveal his whereabouts, has said that Sethi was arrested because of his ``traitorous`` tendencies and ``involvement with (the Indian secret agency) RAW``, as evidenced by a lecture he gave in New Delhi recently on the invitation of the Indo-Pak Friendship Society headed by former Indian premier I.K. Gujral.

Ironically, the salient points of the offending lecture in Delhi have been published several times in Pakistan in TFT, in the form of editorials as well as an article on Jan 1, 1999 titled `What is to be done`. In addition, this lecture has also been delivered by Sethi to the country`s premier defence institution, the National Defence College, which earned him accolades for his intelligent analysis and patriotism, from the Commandant and other senior army officers.

``If the army has no doubts about Sethi`s patriotism, who are these people to doubt it?`` asked a furious Jugnu Moshin, Sethi`s wife and TFT`s publisher. ``Have they got a monopoly on patriotism?``

Addressing the packed library of the Lahore Press Club at the CFP meeting of Saturday, she described how some twenty plainclothes men accompanied by two senior policemen in uniform, all armed, had broken into their Gulberg home at about 2.30 am. ``They beat up our private security guards, barged into our bedroom and dragged Sethi off without even letting him put on his glasses and shoes.

``They beat him with a handcuff chain and batons, took our mobile phones and smashed a regular telephone set on my bedside with a rifle butt. When asked for a warrant, they threatened to shoot,`` said Ms Mohsin, who was also tied up and locked into a dressing room.

Vowing to fight on for press freedom, she said that she feared that Sethi might be physically harmed or killed. And if happened ``I will hold Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif personally responsible.``

Ms Mohsin also expressed apprehensions about possible attacks on the TFT office and Vanguard Books (a publishing house run by Sethi). ``I could also be arrested. But if anything happens to me or to Sethi, it is up to you to continue the struggle for full freedom for expression, regardless of

what happens,`` she concluded.

The meeting was also addressed by former foreign minister Sardar Assef Ali of the Pakistan Muslim League (Chattha group), as well as senior advocates, economists, and journalists, including Editor of The News Islamabad Dr Maleeha Lodhi, a former ambassador to the USA who has herself been threatened several times over the phone over the last few days, including by a federal minister.

At the close of the meeting participants spontaneously marched to the Governor House to present a memorandum demanding that Sethi`s whereabouts be disclosed and that his physical safety be guaranteed. After about half an hour, four of the processionists were allowed in to meet the Governor`s Military Secretary, who assured the delegation that he would locate Sethi`s whereabouts and attempt to guarantee his physical safety.

It is with deep sadness that I read of Mr. Sethi`s fate. One cannot but put some blame on a culture which, even fifty years after ``freedom``, remains too submissive and condoning of the establishment. While it is Nawaz Sharif`s police which did it, such actions have been taken in every decade under the guise of national security, protection of Islam, or some other similar excuse. Whether we like it or not, the mindset of the kinds of SCOURGE is the prevailing one in the South Asian hinterland.

Speaking of SCOURGE, sir, since you hate the West and its values so much, why don`t you do the manly thing and take off to ``daarul Islam``? It is a sad irony that the freedom of speech of radicals like you is protected by the very system that you loathe and would love to destroy. These folks have never understood the concept that what goes on between God and man is no third party`s business, not even the so-called ``ulema```s. And thank God for the few remaining courageous souls like Asma Jehangir and Hina Jilani, or else I`d be already a complete believer(as opposed to a partial one) in what my late grandfather said many years ago:

``Hai! Quaid-e-Azam ka Pakistan

Lootke legay chor beimaan``

The murderers of Samia Imran go scot free, while a man is beaten up and kidnapped for speaking his mind.

What does this mean? Apart from the reality that women kind are the weakest and lowliest of the lows in Pakistan and their abuse does not merit state agitation, it shows that truth hurts the Govt. more than outright murder in a `democratic` state.

It is tragic that the GoP has resorted to suppression to cover its failings. Whatever Mr Sethi has written in his speech is his free opinion. The paranoia of the state reflects its utter ignorance and lack of vision in handling the many crisis of Pakistan.

It does appear as though matters are reaching some sort of a boiling point in Pakistan. The media in India has been quite up to date on the reportage over this incident, and for once there seems to be none of the usual ``India-line`` or ``Paki-line`` in the analysis, simply straight information.

What needs to be known, however, is:-

-the importance within Pakistan of the English media, do such magazines have vernacular (Urdu?) editions which carry the population? (LIke we have India Today, Delhi Press and a host of other South Indian publishing houses in India) If they do have vernacular editions, can they stir popular sentiment?

-Is the electronic media, from Pakistan or outside, considered sufficiently `correct` especially by the vernacular speaking people, again?

-what are the support arms the media has in Pakistan, can the media involve the people the treue on the ground people of Pakistan or has the media become a haven of the elite in Pakistan like it WAS in India a decade ago?

-How smart are the media in `perception management`, or are the Pakistani Government/Armed Forces smarter?

-What weight do Pakistani Net publications have, like REDIFF in India?

As an Indian I feel really sorry for what is happening to MY people in Pakistan, they are as much MINE as are MY people in India. I think, now more than ever before, the responsibility on those of you Pakistanis settled abroad and blessed with the powers of information technology comes to the forefront. It is high time you guys out there, driving on the smooth roads of your adopted lands, thought of things like pirate radio and television stations (free to air) and got closer to the unfortunate people in your (our) countries to whom information is still a denied substance . . .

The colonials never left our countries, but it seems they are making a comeback with a vengeance in Pakistan. And we in India know only too well that our future IS linked with yours, so we would gain if you shape up, and that responsibility, my friends on CHOWK, is now more than ever on the shoulders of the non-resident Pakistani intelligensia.

Move it, friends, and realise who your friends are. Do not let Kashmir be a sore where one is not needed, all they do is rob the tourists anyway...

Intolerance is a trait which is deeply imbibed in we Pakistanis irrespective of our background and social status. Given the opportunity we, off-course with few exceptions, are the most intolerant people around. What happens with Mr. Sethi is nothing new - it is just a playback of the happenings we have witnessed innumerable time in our short ``chersihed`` history. Rest assured incidents like these will be repeated again and again. However that shall deter us to support likes of Mr. Sethi who are flicker of hope in our soceity.

Re: Scrouge

-- What are you trying to say ? I am unable to understand what your statements mean. Maybe i am plain dumb...but can you illuminate further on your arguments....please

Rishi

Re: Beena and Shandana

Disgusting behaviour from the govt. I hope and pray that you guys take care of yourself . Be safe and healthy. Nothing is worth the price of freedom, not even political freedom.

Take care guys

Rishi

This is taken from CNN`s webpage. I hope sanity prevails in this case.

--

Asia:Pakistan

Government Arrests Prominent

Journalist

AP

08-MAY-99

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani police stormed the home of a prominent

journalist on Saturday and took him into custody, accusing him of links with an

Indian spy agency.

A dozen officers broke the gate of Najam Sethi`s home in the Punjab provincial

capital of Lahore, barged into his bedroom and arrested him, said his wife,

Jugnoo Mohsin. She said there were 100 more policemen and 25 police vehicles

outside their home.

``We were expecting he would be arrested, but they conducted the arrest like the

mafia, like gangsters,`` Mohsin said.

Sethi, who owns The Friday Times, a weekly English-language news magazine,

was being interrogated by the Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence, a

government statement said.

His arrest follows several recent attacks, threats and arrests of journalists.

His publication has been critical of the government of Prime Minister Nawaz

Sharif, and Sethi had issued public statements saying he feared arrest.

``Basically this is an attack on the freedom of the press,`` said Mohsin, who also is

a journalist.

Mohsin filed an appeal to the Lahore High Court on Saturday, challenging

Sethi`s arrest.

The government statement said Sethi had made a ``very damaging`` and

``derogatory`` speech about Pakistan during a recent visit to India.

He drew a ``dismal picture of Pakistan to create despondency and doubts in the

minds of Pakistanis`` at the behest of the Indian spy agency, the statement said.

In the latest issue of The Friday Times, Sethi said in an editorial that his

comments had been taken out of context.

Pakistan and India are traditional enemies, and have fought three wars in the past

52 years. Both countries exploded nuclear devices last year, declared

themselves nuclear powers and generated fears of another confrontation.