Does PML-N have the worst record of targeting independent media?

Pakistan’s political fraternity waves the flag of freedom – freedom for the people in all its forms, but with a special spotlight on the freedom of the press. The current Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) government rides in the same boat but also allegedly sabotages this agenda by harshly dealing with its critics within the independent media. With the recent unrest in the country, the detention of journalists and the suspension of news channels has brought the PML-N under fire once again. This week, Bol News talks to four leading experts regarding the absolute absence of freedom of the press under the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif…

Mujahid Barelvi

Senior Journalist

The independent media is being attacked not just now. It has been going on since the era of Zia-ul-Haq. Journalists back then were not just arrested and sacked from their jobs, but were also lashed. I do not think that this is the worst period. Journalists like Arshad Shareef, Sami Ibrahim and others are lucky to be working in the era of social media.

If they face any form of injustice, they make instant headlines on the news channels and get published on the front pages of newspapers. In our times, nobody could know what was happening to the arrested journalists. It was all under covers. So this legacy of Zia still lingers on, irrespective of which political party is in power. The PML-N is surely destructing the freedom of the press, but the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is equally responsible for this chaos. They should not pick and choose the channels and anchors. None of the anchors or channels should get biased while covering any form of news.

The news channels are extremely polarised nowadays which was never the case before. All the senior journalists in the past used to be extremely cautious while getting their articles published. They always made sure that their stance was not in favour of or against any political party. But unfortunately, this is not happening today.

Today a journalist reports something against a political party, and that party then seeks to victimise him. Reporters should only report fairly and not take sides. Besides, unfortunately, a major issue today is the absence of workers’ union. Earlier, if one journalist got sacked, the union would come together and launch a protest. Currently, the popular news channels and journalists lack both unity and professionalism.

The division of the media into electronic and print versions has caused even more damage to the freedom of the press.

Jasmeen  Manzoor

Senior Anchor

I think the whole world is taking notice of this right now. ‘Reporters Without Borders’ and many other international organisations have been raising this issue. So, in this day and age, it’s very surprising for me to see that the current government can still continue with these ridiculous forms of torture tactics; abducting people, taking journalists off air, suspending TV channels, stopping the airing of speeches of the former prime minister who is not just being watched nationally but internationally as well.

Even the United Nations gave a statement regarding Pakistan’s internal political turmoil. I have no idea who is behind all this. I am quite surprised at Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif because when he came into power, he categorically gave this statement that there will be no victimisation of any sort. Right now, his government should utterly focus on the current situation in Pakistan which is facing its worst economic crisis, where the recent floods have devastated two provinces and people need immediate relief and help.

But unfortunately, the rulers are more focused on victimising the independent media. This is going to cause them more hatred as people have already lost faith in the government. We are living in the world of social media. No matter how many channels you shut down, you cannot control the international mediums and social networking sites.

They are ruining the reputation of Pakistan across the world. Jameel Farooqui, who got arrested, is my colleague. He was just recording a transmission with me on the night he got picked up. I was shocked when I got the news the next morning. We received very disturbing images of him and now he is in the custody of Islamabad police and is being tortured. The journalists are feeling threatened. Some of them had to leave the country when one of the channels was put off air. We follow every single law of PEMRA even while putting the former prime minister’s speech on air.

Shahzada  Zulfiqar

President PFUJ

If we see the track record of the political parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has in particular been targeting the independent media. When they are in the opposition, they talk about civil rights, human rights, rights of the citizens and the freedom of press.

But the moment they enter the corridors of power, they forget everything. Whatever is happening with media today also happened when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in power. But now, ironically, Imran Khan’s party and its people have celebrated the World Press Freedom Day. The PML-N introduced Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) in 2016. Every other party was criticising it at the time. Then the PTI came into power and made PECA worse by adding more clauses.

On February 18, 2022, it passed an ordinance amending PECA to make online defamation of authorities, including the military and the judiciary, a criminal offence with harsh penalties. So, this is a repetitive cycle that has been going on. When they are in the government, they start attacking the independent media and when they are in the opposition, they get friendly with the media.

The PML-N lacks tolerance. It is not able to accept the criticism of its government. It arrested journalists like Jameel Farooqui and Imran Riaz just because they were criticising it. What was Farooqui’s crime?

He just stated that Shahbaz Gill had been allegedly abused and tortured. In a normal situation the police oould have given him a warning for levelling accusations against the institution on YouTube without soliciting their version. They didn’t do that.

I think democracy is impossible without the freedom of the press, but unfortunately, media has always been under threat and channels were banned before as well.

Imtiaz Gul

Executive Director,
Centre for Research and Security Studies

It’s all about the princely and feudal mindset. These top political parties think of themselves as the rulers and they think the rulers can with exceptions. Their general mindset is of bullying and buying. Those who disobey these rulers get into trouble. It’s not just happening during the rule of the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).

It also happened when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and later the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) were in power. Secondly, Pakistan has been under the military rule quite a few times. So this is a very deadly combination of feudal/aristocratic/military leaders. Hence, the tolerance level is very low whether it is the PPP or the PML-N.

However, I must say that the PPP and PTI are still better than the PML-N when it comes to the freedom of media. Speaking about the three-and-a-half years of the PTI, their censorship laws were still tolerable.

They did make amendments in the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to impose some restrictions on the way social media was being used. But they only tried to bring discipline among the masses.

They did not impose any ban on the newspapers and television channels. The job of a journalist is to report and the job of an analyst is to analyse. It’s not their job to take sides or become a spokesperson for this party or that. Being a journalist, you cannot write about your personal likes and dislikes.

Sadly, many journalists have played as activists and lobbyists and this is where the problem lies.

The PML-N has always invested more in the media and they have a lot of hidden partners in this field. That is why they have this tendency to go after the people they do not like