June 01, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1428

QUETTA, May 31: An adjournment motion submitted by opposition members in the Balochistan Assembly on threats received by three Karachi-based journalists was not admitted on Thursday owing to strong opposition by ministers of the PML and the MMA and the treasury bench’s stand that the matter related to Sindh.

Presiding over the session, Deputy Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani said: “It is for the house to decide and discuss the content of the motion and for expressing solidarity with media personnel. We should not confine the matter to a particular area because national newspapers have been highlighting the issues of Balochistan.”

Opposition members Kachkol Ali Baloch, Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal, Dr Shama Ishaq, Rehmat Baloch, Shafique Ahmed Khan and Sardar Azam Musakhel criticised a Karachi-based organisation and said that democratic forces should back media and judiciary which were playing an important role in protecting the rights of the people.

They urged the treasury members to cooperate in admitting the motion in order to give a clear message to the people that the Balochistan Assembly was behind the journalist community. They demanded that the motion should be turned into a resolution supporting freedom of the press.