May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 13: Speakers on Sunday demanded that the government should protect media organisations and journalists to ensure freedom of the press in Pakistan.

While speaking at a conference on freedom of media and a condolence meeting in memory of Ahmed Ali Khan, former editor-in-chief of Dawn, they said that media organisations would never tolerate acts of tyranny.

“Like Khan Sahib the journalists will protect the Fourth Estate,” they said, adding that journalists should be provided social and financial security.

Speakers condemned the attack on Aaj TV and killing of innocent citizens in Karachi. They were sceptical of the government’s policies and urged it to save the national institutions from destruction.

The event was organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in collaborations with the Liberal Forum Pakistan.

Among the speakers were PFUJ president Humma Ali Syed, Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) president Arif Hameed Bhatti, Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) president Afzal Butt, senior journalists Abdul Hameed Chhapra, Munno Bhai, Afzal Khan, Nasir Zaidi, C.R. Shamsi, Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik, Awami National Party leader Haji Adeel, Radio Pakistan Director General Ishfaq Gondal and others.—A Reporter