KARACHI, Nov 6: The standing committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), in a meeting held in Karachi strongly condemned the incidents of kidnapping, violence and assassination of journalists.

Chaired by the CPNE president, Syed Fasih Iqbal, the committee resolved that a CPNE delegation would call on the prime minister and other functionaries of the federal government and demand the formation of an institutional mechanism to address the victimization of media and media persons and bring to book the instigators and perpetrators of heinous crimes against members of civil society in general and journalists in particular.

The CPNE took strong exception to the government ban on entry of journalists into the Bajaur area after the recent operation there and expressed the view that when there is a clampdown on news then there is a surfeit of rumours.