Govt intimidation to Jang Group widely condemned
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, journalists and other workers of newspaper industry are protesting federal government harassment of and threats to the management of Jang Group of Publications.
Protest demonstrations, public meetings, processions and corner meetings are being arranged in different parts of the province to condemn the Ehtesab Bureau chief Senator Saifur Rehman for having started a victimisation campaign against a group of publication, publishing widely circulated English and Urdu newspapers and magazines of the country.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Tribal Union of Journalists, Tank Union of Journalists and Dera Union of Journalists will take out a joint procession in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday to condemn the government for its campaign against Jang Group of Publications.
The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the three unions, chaired by Suhail Ahmad Azmi and attended by a number of journalists from three areas.
Through a resolution the meeting demanded of the government to put an immediate end to the victimisation of Jang Group of Publications.
It said that the Nawaz Sharif government is bent upon gaging the print media which is exposing real faces of the present rulers. They regretted that after army and judiciary, government was planning to target fourth pillar of the state.
The meeting also condemned Ehetsab Bureau chief Senator Saifur Rehman for exceeding his powers and becoming a dictator in a democratic set-up.
NOWSHERA: Journalists and other workers of newspaper industry of Nowshera district are to stage a demonstration at Jehangira Chowk here on Sunday to protest victimisation of Jang Group of Publications by the Nawaz Sharif government.
A statement here on Friday said members of Nowshera Press Club, Khairabad Press Club and Jehangira Press Club are to attend the demonstration, starting at 9.30 am. Chairmen of the three press clubs, including Pir Sikandar Shah, Syed Ali Khattak and Haroon Rasheed Khattak are to attend the demonstration.
Meanwhile, a meeting of Chitral Press Club on Friday condemned the federal government for harassing Jang Group of Publications and termed it an attempt to press the print media.
Chaired by the club president Jehangir Jiggar, the meeting regretted that the government's anti-Jang acts have sent a wave of fear and harassment among workers of the newspaper industry.
HARIPUR: Ulema in their sermons to Jumma congregations throughout Haripur on Friday have condemned the Nawaz Sharif government for victimising Jang Group of Publications.
Clergy from different sects also condemned the coercive tactics by the Ehtesab Bureau chief Senator Saifur Rehman for intimidating the management of Jang Group under the cover of tax evasion. They believed that the harassment of the daily Jang and The News is meant to punish the two newspapers for writing truth and unmasking the faces of plunderers and looters of the national exchequer.
Ulema also eulogised the services of Jang group in introducing balanced and objective reporting in Pakistan.
In some of the cases, resolutions were also adopted by the Friday congregations, including Maulana Mohammad Abdullah of Jamia Mosque Ahl-e-Hadith Al-Quds, Maulana Qazi Gul Rehman of Madani Mosque, Maulana Qazi Ghulam Mujtaba and Maulana Sarwar Hazarvi.
BATKHELA: A cross section of the society on Friday condemned the government victimisation of Jang Group of Newspapers and termed it an attack on the freedom of the press.
A joint meeting of members of Batkhela Press Club, Pukhtana Adabi Malgari, Jamiat Ahle-Hadith, ANP, Jamaat-i-Islami and PPP announced support to Jang Group and asked the government to end intimidation of press.