The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is alarmed by the sackings of media personnel at television stations and newspapers across Pakistan and calls on media owners to treat their workers with respect and to abide by Pakistan’s labour laws.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an IFJ affiliate, reports that hundreds of journalists and media workers in all major cities of Pakistan have been sacked with little warning since the beginning of the year. Many retrenched workers have received no explanation or been told their retrenchment is due to “financial constraints”.
Complaints about abrupt sackings have been received from workers at television stations Dawn News, News One, Channel 5, Aaj, GEO and Samaa, as well as Aaj Kal, Daily Jinnah Khabrian, the Post, Alsharq and the Pakistan Observer newspapers.
The IFJ draws the attention of Pakistan’s media owners to the February 2009 Hong Kong Declaration, in which leaders of journalists’ associations and trade unions from across Asia-Pacific, attending an IFJ regional meeting on the global financial crisis, urged media houses to recognise that drastic cost-cutting only leads to a vicious downward spiral, in which media companies, workers and the wider public suffer.
The declaration calls on media owners to work with labour organisations to protect the rights, security and living conditions of media workers, and to devise and implement appropriate measures for sustaining quality media businesses during times of financial hardship.
“We urge media executives to invest in the future of journalism by building new audiences and wisely managing the introduction of new technologies and tools that allow journalists to tell their stories in new ways. News executives need vision and courage to do this,” the declaration said.
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Monday, April 6, 2009
Taliban extend deadline for Canadian journalist
Monday, April 6, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban have extended deadline till April 5 for killing a Canadian Muslim woman journalist to agree to their demands for the release of prisoners.
Khadija Abdul Qahaar, 55, previously known as Beverly Giesbrecht, was kidnapped from near Bannu on Nov 11 when she was visiting the region for a documentary.
Taliban had set March end for her release but a Taliban statement distributed in Miranshah, the centre of North Waziristan tribal region last night said that the Canadian Pakistani authorities did not contact them. The statement said that the Canadian journalist was a spy and had come to the tribal area for espionage on Taliban.
In a video the Canadian Muslim journalist said that the militants would kill her if their demands were not met. Khadija Abdul Qahaar had converted to Islam in response to the US “war on terror” that followed 9/11.
“We have very short time now. And I am going to be killed,” Khadija Abdul Qahaar said in the video, which was delivered to journalists in Miranshah. In her first video last month she confirmed that she had been kidnapped by Taliban and had pleaded for her release. Taliban in a statement said that Khadija Abdul Qahaar is not a journalist but ‘she had come to the tribal regions on espionage mission. “We will kill her if our demands were not accepted,” the statement said.
The statement was delivered in the Miranshah press club by unknown persons. “Her murder is justified under Sharia laws,” the statement said.
It said that a deadline of March 30 was set for acceptance for the demands but neither the Canadian government nor Pakistani authorities have established any contact. “We had extended the deadline till April 3 at the request of the local journalists,” the statement said, adding “We are now again extending deadline till April 5”. Office-bearers of the Miranshah Press Club last week had issued a statement, making appeal to the captors to free the Canadian journalist.
Click here to see the source
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban have extended deadline till April 5 for killing a Canadian Muslim woman journalist to agree to their demands for the release of prisoners.
Khadija Abdul Qahaar, 55, previously known as Beverly Giesbrecht, was kidnapped from near Bannu on Nov 11 when she was visiting the region for a documentary.
Taliban had set March end for her release but a Taliban statement distributed in Miranshah, the centre of North Waziristan tribal region last night said that the Canadian Pakistani authorities did not contact them. The statement said that the Canadian journalist was a spy and had come to the tribal area for espionage on Taliban.
In a video the Canadian Muslim journalist said that the militants would kill her if their demands were not met. Khadija Abdul Qahaar had converted to Islam in response to the US “war on terror” that followed 9/11.
“We have very short time now. And I am going to be killed,” Khadija Abdul Qahaar said in the video, which was delivered to journalists in Miranshah. In her first video last month she confirmed that she had been kidnapped by Taliban and had pleaded for her release. Taliban in a statement said that Khadija Abdul Qahaar is not a journalist but ‘she had come to the tribal regions on espionage mission. “We will kill her if our demands were not accepted,” the statement said.
The statement was delivered in the Miranshah press club by unknown persons. “Her murder is justified under Sharia laws,” the statement said.
It said that a deadline of March 30 was set for acceptance for the demands but neither the Canadian government nor Pakistani authorities have established any contact. “We had extended the deadline till April 3 at the request of the local journalists,” the statement said, adding “We are now again extending deadline till April 5”. Office-bearers of the Miranshah Press Club last week had issued a statement, making appeal to the captors to free the Canadian journalist.
Click here to see the source
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