Daily Times : Journalists’ protest enters 16th day

Journalists’ protest enters 16th day

November 26, 2007

ISLAMABAD: The journalists’ movement for lifting of curbs on media entered the 16th day on Sunday. The protest in front of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club was attended by a large number of media persons including lawyers, who have been regularly attending to show solidarity with the media.

The protestors led by the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) President Afzal Butt chanted slogans of “we want freedom” and vowed to continue their struggle.

Butt said that the government must withdraw the amended ordinances of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Press Council. “Until these ordinances are withdrawn and the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is reinstated we will continue protesting,” he said.

The journalists have been staging protests and holding television programmes, banned by the government, out on the streets.

Nasir Zaidi, a journalist, said the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists’ (PFUJ) struggle for press freedom and ensuring the livelihood of journalists had always been exemplary. “Journalists have made sacrifices in the past and would continue to do so in the days ahead,” he said.