How Free is ’free?’

PU teacher threatened with sacking for writing on inflation

* Journalists, APNS vice president condemn notice

By Ali Waqar

LAHORE: A senior Punjab University teacher has been issued a notice under the Removal form Service Ordinance (RSO) 2000 by the Punjab governor’s secretariat for writing a column on inflation in a national newspaper.

Journalists and All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) Vice President Mujeebur Rehman Shami, speaking at the PU Mass Communication Department, condemned the move as a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

bbabu u need to get your facts straight -- pakistani newspapers carried stories from international wire services of the london attacks -- by AFP, reuters and AP so on-- good you read the dawn editorial on the saudi women drivers issue -- perhaps you need to read dawn, the news and daily times more carefully -- and by the way, since you seem to be such an expert on the pakistani print media why not post under your real name -- oh, wait a min, i thought courage and integrity were things only pakistani journalists lacked -- haha

Re: # 36
Bachoon jaisi baat mat karo............I am praising you for doing the right thing this time.........but sometimes you tend to show your immaturity when you get into the slanging and name calling (uncle tom!!) match.......

Many news items are not published simply out of (editorial) choice. Choice is a matter of values. `Man killed dog` may be very important news for dogs, but not for men, unless the dead dog belongs to an important man.

rozaiba #1
`` The media in Pakistan is indeed very free. ``

The Pakistani media (dawn, jang etc) are not completely free. They were very controlled in what they say.

1. The first response to the suspects in the London bombings was to identify them as South Asian as opposed to pakistani. The response was uniform among the English language newspapers.

2. They never reported on the Sudan civil war against Animist rebels. They did report the Darfur since the victims were also Muslim.

3. They danced around with the facts when anti-Chinese riots broke out in Indonesia.

4. They are pretty silent on anything critical of Saudi Arabia. This is the most serious criticism. I have seen only one editorial critical of women right to drive. It was last week. Maybe the checks did not arrive on time :-)

5. They are awfully quiet on the Burmese government which is among the top ten in terms of brutality and human right violations. Also it is a country that borders India and is in the neighborhood.

Re: # 29
..and this is the kind of free speech this moron_mike hunt aka salim aka palam wants for himself...;)

palam123456789

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July 15, 2005

SemenAsha the cock-sucking turd

SemenAsha you cock-sucking turd, why are you deleting messages?
SemenAsha, You are the ugliest cock-sucking, pussy-peddling, anal-taking bitch in creation. Fuck you.

Re: # 40 kaal

Good points.

omar_r_quariashi

The tack you and most other Pakistani journalists adopt is completely different from the one taken up by Amir Ali. No one of us can say whether you guys are right or Amir Ali is right, but while the Pakistani government can safely ignore all you, they can`t ignore Amir Ali.

For instance, in your editorial, you make excellent points. You point out that the Pakistani government had said the right things but has not followed up sufficiently. The government has made attempts to reform Madrassas. It has tried to control militancy and curb religious fanaticism. It has sought to mobilize progressive and liberal Muslim scholars and intellectuals on behalf of an enlightened course. However, the government`s efforts were half-hearted and have failed.

That`s well stated, but Amir Ali has followed an entirely different direction. He has focused on uncovering specific reports that the Pakistani government has been pro-actively working with Jihadi terrorists and protecting international criminals.

In essence, you are alleging good-natured incompetence. Amir Ali is alleging criminality.

arjun_M -- morons of course will never learn -- you stupid idiot did you even read the Dawn/Daily Times editorials ? jai ram jee kee

mullah omar: The paki jihadis are freer than the paki press

To Many, Talk of a Crackdown in Pakistan Seems Hollow
By SOMINI SENGUPTA and DAVID ROHDE

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 19 - Three and a half years ago, in a speech that crystallized a post-Sept. 11 turnaround, President Pervez Musharraf vowed to eradicate extremism in his country. ``We will take strict action against any Pakistani who is involved in terrorism inside the country or abroad,`` he said.

That was Pakistan, Jan. 12, 2002.

This week, evidence that three of the four London bombing suspects had visited Pakistan for up to three months last year has thrown new light on old facts.

Despite government promises and denials, radical groups continue to operate in Pakistan. Religious schools, or madrasas, still indoctrinate and recruit would-be militants to fight abroad. Several leaders and members of these extremist groups, arrested in 2002, are back on the street. Militant training camps remain; one Western diplomat said they have just ``changed addresses.``

Now, Pakistani officials have answered the London attacks with an investigation into any potential links here and calls for a fresh crackdown on militant groups. But the question arises whether the new steps will be any more effective in snuffing out extremism than efforts past.

On Monday, an editorial in The Daily Times, an English-language newspaper, asked in a headline: ``Is Pakistan Still a Launch-Pad for Terrorism?``

If the London bombing suspects did arrive here seeking contacts with extremists, they may not have been the only ones, American and Pakistani officials say.

Another young Briton of Pakistani descent, Zeeshan Siddique, was arrested on his visit here last May. He is being investigated for ties to radical Islamist groups and bomb plots in London. A journal kept by Mr. Siddique includes a March 6, 2005, entry, in which he laments that one of his contacts is ``chickening out.`` A week later, he learned that ``wagon is now called off.`` British officials are trying to discern whether ``wagon`` refers to a planned attack.

#34 by omar_r_quraishi on July 20, 2005 1:43am PT


that, to you, is dwelling on generalisms??


Let`s see you name names....


Press freedom ‘predators’ in 2004

PARIS: RSF released a 34-strong list of what it calls media freedom “predators” – leaders and organisations around the world it accuses of “direct responsibility for press freedom violations”.

RSF said that because of the individuals or organisations it named, “journalists have been murdered, imprisoned, physically attacked and threatened in 2004”.

New to the list are Bangladeshi Interior Minister Lutfozzaman Babor, Bangladesh’s Maoist party Purbobanglar, Ivory Coast’s Young Patriots militia, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and Nigeria’s State Security Service. The list also includes the name of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. afp

This was in The daily times 04/29

Press not free in Pakistan, says Freedom House

By Khalid Hasan

Washington: Freedom House, which monitors the sate of freedom around the world every year, has placed Pakistan among countries where the press is “Not Free.”

According to Freedom House which released the survey this week, “Pakistan dropped from Partly Free to Not Free because of increased official harassment of journalists and media outlets, in addition to passage of a bill that increased penalties for defamation. The moves followed other aggressive measures taken over the last two years by military authorities to silence critical or investigative voices in the media. A number of journalists have been pressured to resign from prominent publications, charged with sedition, or arrested and intimidated by intelligence officials while in custody.” Only two countries - Pakistan and Kenya - registered a negative category shift in 2004, moving from Partly Free to Not Free. Pakistan was also among countries where Freedom House said “notable setbacks” had taken place. Others so listed were Kenya, Mexico, Venezuela, and in the United States itself.

ballu -- arent you the uncle tom muslim from india who used to criticize the likes of me endlessly and say that the pakistani press isnt free -- you are that very uncle tom , arent you?

Re: # 34
Wel done Omar- I think the hour of reckoning for Mush`s Pakistan is going to be this Hasba bill and how he ensures that it does not go through.

arjun_m -- i thought u were only an RSS lover and card-carrying VHP activist -- but your last post seems to suggest your also blind as a bat -- read the article again u moron -- its not generalized, it full of specific examples and policy measures taken by the MMA govt in the NWFP and is specifically on the hasba bill`s passage in the NWFP provincial legislature -- that, to you, is dwelling on generalisms??

and this is an editorial i wrote for my paper which appeared in the july 20 edition:


Not by rhetoric alone



PRESIDENT Musharraf has spoken the right words in combating rising religious extremism and fanaticism. Speaking at a national youth convention in Islamabad, he said that it was important to fight this scourge because if elected to political office such elements would take Pakistan back to the dark ages. With reference to the London attacks of July 7, he castigated those who advocated or supported such actions saying that it was in fact against the tenets of Islam to blow up oneself in order to kill innocent people. Without doubt, this is the right stance to adopt in dealing with the menace of religious obscurantism and fanaticism.

The only problem — and a major one at that — however, is that we have heard these words many times before. We have also seen that the some of the key institutions in the country which can take the initiative in fighting the fanatics have done little to expose the dangers of militancy. For instance, the government has completely failed in its half-hearted attempt to regulate the madressahs, to modernize their curriculum and to bring these institutions within the ambit of government monitoring. In fact, the whole approach to this issue of madressah registration has been obfuscated with the education minister supporting regulation and the religious affairs minister opposing it. The madressahs are now in the spotlight once again because three of the London bombers are believed to have visited some in Pakistan prior to the attacks. Similarly, the government has also failed in its attempts to stop mosque imams from routinely branding those of other sects or faiths as ‘kafirs’ or from glorifying a militant version of Islam at odds with, and bent on converting, the non-Muslim world. It has failed to mobilize the active support of Muslim scholars and intellectuals who believe in a progressive and liberal vision of Islam and who could be an important bulwark against religious intolerance and bigotry. And, there are now reports that jihadi training camps are back in business, although with much less publicity. So where is the government in all of this? The fight against religious extremism and for a more progressive and tolerant Pakistan has to be fought on these fronts but, regrettably, it is nowhere to be found. Until that happens, what the president has said will remain empty rhetoric.



you`re pretty much a paki-hating moron arjun_m -- i suggest for your own sake and credibility (if there is any) you try and be just a bit balanced

Controls are ubiquitous. Distinctions arise regarding the scope, locus, and nature of control mechanisms.

Different control mechanisms have different degrees of (internal and external) legitimacy, and therefore create different `internal` consequences in the long-term.

In the short-term, and from objective external perspectives, they can certainly look very much the same.

Re: # 23
YOU ARE SO WRONG HERE.
YES, AMERICAN MEDIA DID NOT REPORT SUFFERINGS OF IRAQIS AS THEY SHOULD HAVE.
BUT NOT FOR THE SAME REASON I.E. POLITICAL BLACKOUT AS IN PAKISTAN BUT DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST.
GOVERNMENT OF USA DOES NOT CONTROL THEIR MEDIA BUT PRIVATE OWNERS AND VIEWERS INTEREST, RATINGS ETC DICTATE THE COVERAGE.

WOULD A ROTTING CORPSE IN IRAQ MAKE A PLEASANT THING FOR AMERICANS TO WATCH AT DINNERTIME? NO, BECAUSE IT IS NOT A PLEASANT SIGHT.

AMERICA CARES ABOUT IT`S INTERESTS AND IT`S PEOPLE AND IRAQIS ARE NEITHER.

HOPEFULY NOW YOU UNDERSTAND.