May 4, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1426

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KARACHI, May 3: The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) on Tuesday expressed concern over incidents of violence against the press and observed that during the first four months of this year 11 incidents of attack on media were reported. The meeting of the CPNE standing committee held under the chairmanship of Mr Arif Nizami in connection with the International Press Freedom Day, reviewed the overall situation and decided to publish reports of the CPNE’s press freedom monitoring desk and press freedom monitoring and support committee.

The committee noted that during the period under review two journalists were killed and many others were injured in the tribal areas. Scores of journalists demanding freedom of the press were baton-charged and many of them were kept in illegal detention. The CPNE also noted attacks on press clubs and newspaper offices.

The CPNE was of the view that the first attack on press freedom this year was mounted by activists of the Imamia Students Organization. They attacked the Lahore Press Club while reacting to the murder of Shia cleric Agha Ziauddin. The second attack was on offices of the Jang group and Geo TV in Karachi on Jan 29. The meeting also reviewed the attacks in Gilgit and killing of journalists in Waziristan and other parts of the country. The meeting also criticized the police action against journalists in Lahore on April 15 and 16 and excesses in Quetta.