ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: The Citizen’s Peace Committee (CPC), Islamabad-Rawalpindi chapter, affiliated with the Alliance for Peace and Justice, criticized the government’s action of banning press briefings by the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.

The decision has been taken by the Foreign Office under pressure from the United States, as a direct consequence of reports that have been issued at these briefings of civilian casualties due to US-led coalition bombings.

The CPC said the US Information Service (USIS) had stepped up its propaganda war. “All newspapers and international media are getting daily handouts from the office of the public affairs department of the US embassy in Islamabad, accusing the Taliban of lying and exaggerating human casualties”, a CPC official said.

The peace organization said the US campaign in Afghanistan was one-sided, and that a number of international media networks like CNN, Fox and BBC were airing the US perspective on bombardment round-the-clock, he said.

It neither conforms to the norms of fairplay, nor does it behove the country that claims to be the custodian of democratic values and freedom of speech, he added.

He said the action of the Pakistan government to immediately buckle down before the US demand was also deplorable.

“This is in sharp contrast to the response of Qatari government which resisted similar pressures from the same quarters regarding telecast of Osama bin Laden’s statements on Al-Jazeera”, he added.

The CPC said though it did not support the Taliban government in any way, it was absolutely essential that the issue of civilian casualties was not suppressed by this unilateral and typically authoritarian step of the US. There should be an international protest over the US demand and the Pakistan government’s action, it added.

He demanded confirmation of the extent of civilian casualties and damages through independent UN teams.