Reporters Without Borders calls on the Pakistani authorities and Taliban leaders to ensure that cable TV operators in the Swat valley are able to resume broadcasting of both Pakistani and international TV stations without delay.
On 5 April 2009, Taliban leaders gave cable TV operators the green light to resume broadcasting "Islamic" and Pakistani TV stations, but foreign news and entertainment channels continue to be banned. "We have been given permission to resume cable distribution services but on certain conditions," a cable operator in the Swat valley city of Mingora told Reporters Without Borders after meeting Taliban leader Maulana Shah Dauran.
The Movement for the Enforcement of the Sharia banned TV broadcasting in the Swat valley in mid-2008. The office of one cable TV operator was even bombed by the Taliban.
Reporters Without Borders said: "The authorities have a duty to help the Swat valley population enjoy the same news media as the rest of the country's inhabitants. Failure to do this will bode ill for respect for the free flow of news and information in the valley, now subject to Islamic law."
The Taliban ban on TV news broadcasting by cable was condemned by Reporters Without Borders in a report on press freedom in the Swat valley released on 2 April: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30742
Click here to view source
Note: This is the blog for all about journalists, journalism and issues related to journalists. Bloggers are requested to please don't post items not related to journalism. Such and those posts containing vulgarity, obscenity, or derogatory remarks will be removed forthwith.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Kidnapped journalist escapes his abductors
Khawar Shafiq, "Daily Waqt" correspondent in the city of Faisalabad, managed to flee from his abductors on 11 April 2009, four days after he was abducted from his village.
According to press reports, Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three men who shoved him into a car and made him sniff some liquid, after which he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings.
Shafiq claimed his kidnapping was linked with his opening of a Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad. He said during his captivity, his captors asked for the addresses and details of Pakistani journalists who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation in the US.
According to earlier press reports, Shafiq was questioned by an intelligence agency about the Centre of Interfaith Studies that he had established. Two computers in Shafiq's office were stolen a week before his abduction.
In late March, the US Consulate's Principal Officer, Brian D. Hunt, inaugurated the centre and the US consulate provided 100 books on inter-faith topics.
Shafiq claimed that on 11 April, his kidnappers told him that he would be presented before the 'Sheikh', who would decide his fate. Two captors armed with pistols got him in a car and after travelling on a bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hours, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the car, he got out of the car and ran away, taking advantage of the darkness.
After running for one kilometre, he got on a bus and called his colleagues from the bus stop. Shafiq arrived in Faisalabad on 12 April, where he was reunited with his family.
Click here to view source
According to press reports, Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three men who shoved him into a car and made him sniff some liquid, after which he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings.
Shafiq claimed his kidnapping was linked with his opening of a Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad. He said during his captivity, his captors asked for the addresses and details of Pakistani journalists who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation in the US.
According to earlier press reports, Shafiq was questioned by an intelligence agency about the Centre of Interfaith Studies that he had established. Two computers in Shafiq's office were stolen a week before his abduction.
In late March, the US Consulate's Principal Officer, Brian D. Hunt, inaugurated the centre and the US consulate provided 100 books on inter-faith topics.
Shafiq claimed that on 11 April, his kidnappers told him that he would be presented before the 'Sheikh', who would decide his fate. Two captors armed with pistols got him in a car and after travelling on a bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hours, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the car, he got out of the car and ran away, taking advantage of the darkness.
After running for one kilometre, he got on a bus and called his colleagues from the bus stop. Shafiq arrived in Faisalabad on 12 April, where he was reunited with his family.
Click here to view source
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Hindu extremists attack Pak journalists in India
NEW DELHI: The extremists of a Hindu religious organisation, Shri Ram Sena attacked a group of Pakistani journalists here on Wednesday.
According to an Indian news channel, the Shri Ram Sena extremists thronged New Delhi’s International Center where a meeting of Indo-Pak Forum was going on. They thrashed visiting Pakistani journalists and chanted anti-Pakistan slogans.
Senior Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai was busy going through an article published in an Indian newspapers when the poignant incident took place.
Later, an Indian journalist told Geo news that the person shown in the video footage was a Shri Ram Sena extremist and not a Pakistani journalist.
Click here to view the source
According to an Indian news channel, the Shri Ram Sena extremists thronged New Delhi’s International Center where a meeting of Indo-Pak Forum was going on. They thrashed visiting Pakistani journalists and chanted anti-Pakistan slogans.
Senior Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai was busy going through an article published in an Indian newspapers when the poignant incident took place.
Later, an Indian journalist told Geo news that the person shown in the video footage was a Shri Ram Sena extremist and not a Pakistani journalist.
Click here to view the source
Monday, April 13, 2009
Election train for BBC reporters
BBC Worldwide, one of the oldest news services in the world, has planned to send 30 reporters on a special train journey to report on the lok Sabha elections to its 20-million-strong audience in India. It has already worked out the logistics with the Indian Railways.
The election train, according to BBC, will begin the journey on April 25 from New Delhi and will cover Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Allahabad, before returning to the capital on May 13.
BBC World Service executive editor for South Asia, Nazes Afroz said, “The purpose of travelling across the nation with a team of 30 reporters from our various language services and various media forms like TV, online and radio, is to investigate the key themes surrounding the elections and what Indians want from the polls.”
He pointed out, “We covered the US presidential elections, travelling across the nation over six weeks on a bus and used a boat to cover the recent Bangladesh national polls. We realised that if one has to properly capture the mood of India, taking a train is the best way.”
Equipped with communication devices like satellite phones, the reporters will alight from the train at places to get in-depth understanding of situations. “Our reporters will use mobile Internet, but the reports will not be live. Although satellite phones can’t be used from moving trains, we cam generate a lot of material on our laptops and use them later,” Afroz said.
Besides, the journey will help BBC reporters ascertain India’s place in the global economy. He said, “The world wonders how India is managing to still grow at a rate of around six per cent.
There has not been a meltdown here, but a slowdown. And people want to know how.”
The election train, according to BBC, will begin the journey on April 25 from New Delhi and will cover Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Allahabad, before returning to the capital on May 13.
BBC World Service executive editor for South Asia, Nazes Afroz said, “The purpose of travelling across the nation with a team of 30 reporters from our various language services and various media forms like TV, online and radio, is to investigate the key themes surrounding the elections and what Indians want from the polls.”
He pointed out, “We covered the US presidential elections, travelling across the nation over six weeks on a bus and used a boat to cover the recent Bangladesh national polls. We realised that if one has to properly capture the mood of India, taking a train is the best way.”
Equipped with communication devices like satellite phones, the reporters will alight from the train at places to get in-depth understanding of situations. “Our reporters will use mobile Internet, but the reports will not be live. Although satellite phones can’t be used from moving trains, we cam generate a lot of material on our laptops and use them later,” Afroz said.
Besides, the journey will help BBC reporters ascertain India’s place in the global economy. He said, “The world wonders how India is managing to still grow at a rate of around six per cent.
There has not been a meltdown here, but a slowdown. And people want to know how.”
Kidnapped journalist escapes
BAHAWALPUR: Khawar Shafiq, a Faisalabad-based journalist who `went missing’ while going to home at Chak No 14, Ram Dewali on Sargodha Road in Faisalabad on Tuesday night, fled his captors’ custody in Liaquatpur, 120 kilometres from here, on Saturday night.
On arrival in Bahawalpur, Mr Shafiq claimed that he fled while the car (KHN-2627) he was being transported to some unspecified location by his captors broke down near Mauza Jindoo Pir on Liquatpur-Channigoth Road.
Mr Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three bearded men from his village on April 7 evening. The kidnappers bundled him into a white car and soon he was administered some liquid spiked with intoxicants and afterwards he fell unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself on a charpoy in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings. He said his captors treated him inhumanly.Mr Khawar claimed that his kidnapping was linked with the opening of the office of the Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad.
The foundation founded by Daniel’s father Dr Judea Pearl was set up in the memory of Mr Pearl who was killed in Pakistan a few years ago.
US Consulate principal officer Brian D. Hunt had inaugurated the office and the US consulate had also provided the office with 100 books on Jews and other inter-faith matters.He said during his confinement his captors grilled him on this matter and “my links with Jews and Hunt”.
Sometimes, they also tortured him and asked the addresses and details about those six Pakistanis, including some TV anchors, who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation.Mr Shafiq claimed the kidnappers had told him that he would be presented before the ‘Sheikh’, who would decide his fate.
During his captivity, Mr Shafiq said, it felt that he had been detained in some rural area, where he could hear ‘azaan’ or prayer calling in the morning.He said the kidnappers claimed themselves as the members of an “Islamic Soldiers’ Front”.On Saturday after Maghrab prayers, the two captors asked him to change his dress.
Armed with pistols, they got him on the car and after traveling on some bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hour, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the fault, he got off the car and started strolling along the road.Soon he ran away from the scene taking advantage of the darkness.
After covering over one kilometer, he got a bus coming from Rahim Yar Khan. The bus conductor informed him that he was near Jindoopeer Adda, where he disembarked from the bus and took shelter in a shop of an ex-serviceman.Inside the shop, he phoned his colleagues in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad.
He said his captors also came to the adda in search for him but the shopkeeper hid him in the rear portion of the shop. Later, Mr Shafiq arrived in Bahawalpur and on Sunday, he was finally reunited with his family in Faisalabad.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/13/2009
Click here to view the source
On arrival in Bahawalpur, Mr Shafiq claimed that he fled while the car (KHN-2627) he was being transported to some unspecified location by his captors broke down near Mauza Jindoo Pir on Liquatpur-Channigoth Road.
Mr Shafiq said he was kidnapped by three bearded men from his village on April 7 evening. The kidnappers bundled him into a white car and soon he was administered some liquid spiked with intoxicants and afterwards he fell unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself on a charpoy in a dark room and was without his cell phone, cash and other belongings. He said his captors treated him inhumanly.Mr Khawar claimed that his kidnapping was linked with the opening of the office of the Daniel Pearl Foundation in Faisalabad.
The foundation founded by Daniel’s father Dr Judea Pearl was set up in the memory of Mr Pearl who was killed in Pakistan a few years ago.
US Consulate principal officer Brian D. Hunt had inaugurated the office and the US consulate had also provided the office with 100 books on Jews and other inter-faith matters.He said during his confinement his captors grilled him on this matter and “my links with Jews and Hunt”.
Sometimes, they also tortured him and asked the addresses and details about those six Pakistanis, including some TV anchors, who had been awarded fellowships by the Daniel Pearl Foundation.Mr Shafiq claimed the kidnappers had told him that he would be presented before the ‘Sheikh’, who would decide his fate.
During his captivity, Mr Shafiq said, it felt that he had been detained in some rural area, where he could hear ‘azaan’ or prayer calling in the morning.He said the kidnappers claimed themselves as the members of an “Islamic Soldiers’ Front”.On Saturday after Maghrab prayers, the two captors asked him to change his dress.
Armed with pistols, they got him on the car and after traveling on some bumpy road for about one-and-a-half hour, the car broke down. He claimed that while his captors were busy repairing the fault, he got off the car and started strolling along the road.Soon he ran away from the scene taking advantage of the darkness.
After covering over one kilometer, he got a bus coming from Rahim Yar Khan. The bus conductor informed him that he was near Jindoopeer Adda, where he disembarked from the bus and took shelter in a shop of an ex-serviceman.Inside the shop, he phoned his colleagues in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad.
He said his captors also came to the adda in search for him but the shopkeeper hid him in the rear portion of the shop. Later, Mr Shafiq arrived in Bahawalpur and on Sunday, he was finally reunited with his family in Faisalabad.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/13/2009
Click here to view the source
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
