Friday June 23, 2006

EDITORIAL :

Attack on press freedom

ON a number of occasions President Musharraf has boasted about the press in Pakistan enjoying more freedom today than any time in the past. He may be right to an extent, but the paradox is that the media person is less free today and, what is more, journalism is becoming an increasingly hazardous profession in Pakistan .

http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/23/ed.htm

NEWS:

Mukesh Interview

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2006/06/
060622_mukesh_interview_as.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2006/06/060622_
mukaesh_case_fz.shtml

Missing Sindhi journalists produced in court

* TV team remanded in police custody
* Journalist says he was tortured in captivity
* Cameraman accidentally wandered into prohibited area of Jacobabad airbase

Mukesh Rupeta, reporter for The News and Geo TV, and his cameraman Sanjay Kumar were handed over to police on seven-day remand as they were produced in a local court on Thursday. Police sources said a case had been registered against the two men for filming the Jacobabad airbase and forging identity cards and passports, under sections 464, 465, 471 and 3 of the PPC.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\23\
story_23-6-2006_pg1_1

Two television journalists kidnapped and tortured for filming airbase used by US military

Reporters Without Borders has voiced outrage at the actions of Pakistani military intelligence officers in kidnapping and torturing two journalists who filmed an airbase used by the US military in the southern province of Sindh .

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/75251/

Missing reporters appear in court

Two Pakistani journalists working for a private TV station have appeared in court three months after relatives say they disappeared. Mukesh Ropeta, a reporter, and cameraman Sanjay Kumar were remanded in police custody for seven days. Relatives say they have been tortured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5107418.stm

‘Missing' journalist produced in court

TV reporter Mukesh Rupeta and his cameraman Sanjay Kumar were produced in the court of a civil judge here on Thursday, three months after they had been detained for filming the Jacobabad airbase, designated as a sensitive area. Members of their families, close relatives and friends were in the court. The two had been handed over on Wednesday to the Jacobabad Airport police station and a case was registered against them under sections 471, 465 and 419 of the PPC and section 3-A of the Official Secrets Act.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/23/top16.htm

Missing journalist produced before court, remanded

Missing Mukesh Rupeta, correspondent of The News and Geo television, and his cameraman Sanjay Kumar were remanded in police custody for seven days on Thursday, following the registration of a case against them at the Airport police station Jacobabad, on charges of filming Jacobabad airbase and preparing fake national identity cards and passports.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=1570

Sherpao assures media of Mukesh's meeting with family

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao assured on Thursday a meeting would be arranged between detained journalist Mukesh Rupeta and his family. Mukesh, who works for The News and Geo television, is in the custody of the Sindh police. Media persons staged a walkout from the press gallery of the National Assembly to protest his detention.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=1571

Journalist appears before judge for first time

Two journalists appeared in court Thursday for the first time since being detained three months ago while filming at Shahbaz base. A relative said one of the men had been tortured in custody.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=45804&catid=2

Killing scares media away from Waziristan

Journalist Hayatullah Khan took a photo of something Pakistan 's government said was never there. Within days he disappeared without a trace, dragged off by masked men. Last week, six months after his abduction, his body was found dumped in North Waziristan , handcuffed and shot in the back.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0622/p07s02-wosc.html

A clear message to journalists: keep out

What is most striking, observers agree, is that Khan's body was found at all. The message journalists are taking from his mysterious death: Stay out of Waziristan .

"Try and meddle where you're not supposed to, try coming to the tribal areas, and you put your life at risk," says Adnan Rehmat, director of Internews Pakistan , a media watchdog organization.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0622/p07s02-wosc.html

Judicial probe into Hayat case begins

The judicial commission formed by the federal government to investigate journalist Hayatullah Khan's murder has started collecting basic information, Justice Raza Khan of the commission told Daily Times.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\23\story_23-6-2006_pg1_3

Communication gap among high-ups of Communications Ministry

Strangely enough, there is no communication between the communication minister and serving military officers running the Vigilance Directorate. Shamim Siddiqui, the communication minister, has not only kept the military officials at arm's length, but also refused to accept Tariq Mahmood, communication secretary, for a week after he was notified for the post.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=45795&catid=17

Vanishing journalists' worry HRCP

Expressing pleasure over journalist Mukesh Rupeta's appearance in a prison, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the journalist's three-month disappearance showed that the government was trampling citizens' fundamental rights.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\
23\story_23-6-2006_pg7_43

Journalists accused of irresponsible reporting

Journalists Thursday walked out of the press gallery when one of the opposition MPAs, Atiqur Rehman, alleged that mediamen on one hand were taking benefits from the provincial government while on the other some of them were doing irresponsible reporting.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=45765&catid=2

Journalism and politics inter linked, Nawabshah Nazim

Politics and journalism are inter-linked and politics is nothing without media.  These views were expressed on Thursday by district Nazim Faryal Talpur, while addressing a certificate distribution ceremony held at the Nawabshah Press Club on the conclusion of a three-day workshop on “The role of press clubs in promotion of democratic society”.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=12206

HRCP welcomes appearance of missing journalist

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has welcomed the appearance of journalist Mukesh Rupeta in a court. In a statement on Thursday HRCP general secretary Iqbal Haider said Mukesh Rupeta's appearance is welcome because he has escaped a worse fate that has befallen some other victims.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=12218

Protest rally against murder, abduction of journalists

Journalists of Tehsil Arifwala Thursday took out a protest rally against the murder of journalist Hayatullah Khan in South Waziristan and the abduction of Geo News reporter Mukesh Rupeta. Representatives of PPPP, MMA, PML-N and Bar Association also marched in the rally.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=12343

Rally to protest Hayatullah's murder

The press club members will take out a rally to protest the murder of journalist Hayatullah Khan of Waziristan and Aamer Cheema by the German police here today.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=12350

Media's role hailed

Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan has said Pakistani society is the most informed one and the credit for this goes to the media. He stated this while talking to the office-bearers of Lakki Press Club at his office here on Thursday.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/23/nat15.htm

HIV/AIDS awareness: Media needs to get in on the act

A workshop on ethical guidelines for reporting HIV and AIDS was organised by the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) in collaboration with UNICEF on Thursday to educate the people about the disease.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\06\23\story_23-6-2006_pg7_32

FM LISTENING: The never-ending prattle

I am really tired of the identical lacklustre programmes on FM channels. There is nothing new in them. It's always the monotonous never-ending prattle. I don't even need to know the timetable of these FM channels. I could tell you what programme would be on at what time of the day, along with the name of the DJ, the expected topic of discussion, the types of songs to be broadcast and the kinds of callers more likely to call.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=45783&catid=17

OPINION:

Troubled times

By Masooda Bano

Politics and propaganda go hand in hand, but to be respected a government needs to maintain some degree of credibility in its words and actions. There is no trust left on the current government for its blatant fudging of statistics and denial of ground realities. This is reflected in issues as grave as killing journalists in the tribal belts, to routine matters around fudging of poverty statistics, heavy expenditure on the prime minister's foreign tours, covering up high spending on cabinet ministers and advisors by putting costs linked to their salaries and benefits under other heads within the budgets of the concerned ministries, etc.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=12233

PRESS UNDER SIEGE - Another loss: justice for Hayatullah Khan

By Sadaf Arshad

Let's believe eventually that Hayatullah Khan is no more. The period of seven months starting from December 2005 till June 2006 forced many of us to oscillate between hope and fear. However, on June 16 every hope died and fear prevailed in the most abhorrent manner.

http://www.thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=45744&catid=11

Killed in action

By Wajahat Latif
Hamza Rabia, a senior Al Qaida operative, was killed in Mirali, North Waziristan on 1st December last year. The government claimed that he had been killed in a blast in his house when he was fabricating an explosive device. 

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/june-2006/23/columns3.php

Pearl killer under constant guard

By Amir Mir

It is almost four years now since a Pakistani court had sentenced to death Sheikh Ahmad Omar Saeed, a London School of Economics graduate turned jihadi, for the gruesome murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. However, Omar has managed to avoid being sent to the gallows during all these years and his appeal against the sentence has seen almost 50 adjournments since his conviction, for inexplicable reasons.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=45747&catid=11

The cost of the news
By M.A. Niazi

I first learnt the meaning of 'a cold hand gripped his heart' when Karachi erupted for the umpteenth time in 1990, when a colleague and a very dear friend was touring Sindh already. He was supposed to be in Hyderabad , which came under curfew, and there was a whole day when we had no intimation of his whereabouts.

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/june-2006/23/columns.php

MORE:

“PTV to air Mughal-e-Azam”, Daily Times, Page-B-2

“New clerics club plans tp target TV, radio channels”, Daily Times, Page-A-3

“Mukesh Rupeta and Sanjay Kumar presented in court”, Daily Jang, back Page

“Newsmen walkout over journalist's arrest”, The Nation, Back Page

“ Sherpao told NA: Private TV Channel's reporter arrested from Jacobabad”, Nawa-e-Waqat, Front Page

“ Special Edition: Majeeb Nazami serve journalism for 50 years”m Nawa-e-Waqat, Magazine Pages

NEWS SOURCES:

The News: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/

The Nation: http://www.nation.com.pk/

Daily Times: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

The Dawn: http://www.dawn.com

Spider: www.spider.tm

BBC South Asia : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/

Herald: http://dawn.com/herald/

Aurora : www.aurora@dawn.com

The Economist: www.economist.com

IFEX: www.ifex.org

Jang: http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/

Nawa-i-waqt: http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk

Khabrain: http://www.khabrain.com

Daily Development News: http://asp.isb.sdnpk.org/

The Post: http://www.thepost.com.pk/

Business Recorder: http://www.brecorder.com

Asia Media: www.asiamedia.ucla.edu

PEMRA: www.pemra.gov.pk

Compiled by, Sajid Gondal Media Monitor, Internews Pakistan .

DISCLAIMER: The contents, including news and headlines, in this newsletter are reproduced from their respective publications ad verbatim as a public service to media observers. Internews does not author the contents and these, therefore, do not necessarily reflect organizational policy.  

Updated at 11:00 PST (06:00 GMT)