October 1, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: Print and electronic media personnel all over Pakistan vowed on Sunday to protect media freedom and to continue their struggle for rights.

They marked Sunday as black day and organised peaceful protest rallies in the federal capital and in various cities and towns in the Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP to condemn brutal police action against journalists and lawyers on Saturday.

In Islamabad, journalists staged a big demonstration and declared that they would expose the government’s anti-media policies and security forces’ excesses in a charge-sheet to be made public on Oct 3.

They also decided to observe a black day on the day and to boycott the proceedings of parliament, provincial assemblies and official functions throughout the country.

While performing their professional duties, they would decline refreshments and food at official functions.

The demonstration was staged on a call given by the Pakistan Federal of Unions of Journalists (PFUJ) against excesses committed by police on Sept 29 in Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar.

Some senior journalists termed the Sunday’s demonstration in Islamabad unprecedented and said it was the biggest-ever gathering of media professionals in Islamabad.

Hundreds of journalists participated in the rally which was taken out from Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club’s camp office. The rally was also attended by politicians, representatives of NGOs, human rights activists and civil society representatives.

The rally reached the Parliament House where it turned into a public meeting which was addressed by offices-bearers of the PFUJ. During the march, the media personnel blocked one side of the Jinnah Avenue for over an hour.

It was a peaceful rally and no untoward incident was reported.

Except for a police contingent deployed at the D-Chowk near Parliament House, no security personnel had been posted along the route of the procession.

Senior journalists, women and children in the rally carried placards with slogans about freedom of the press and the government’s anti-media policies.

They also raised slogans against police brutality.

Prominent among those who participated in the rally were president of the Pakistan Federal of Unions of Journalists Huma Ali, secretary-general Mazhar Abbas, Pakistan Muslim League-N’s acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Zafar Ali Shah, Pakistan People’s Party’s Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Iqbal Haidar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Enver Baig and Farhatullah Babar, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Mian Muhammad Aslam, Zahid Khan, information secretary of the Awami National Party, prominent lawyers, including Munir A. Malik and Ali Ahmed Kurd, minority leaders J. Salik and Shahbaz Bhatti and former federal secretary Roedad Khan.

PFUJ office-bearers warned the government against imposing a ‘war’ on the journalist community. “We have the power of the pen and it may prove to be the last nail in the government’s coffin,” they said.

They also called upon the government to immediately suspend Inspector General of Islamabad Police Syed Morawat Ali Shah who, they said, had ordered the brutal action against the media personnel.

In Lahore, journalists said they would not let media freedom, which they had won after a long struggle, easily slip away.
They were joined in their protests by workers of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Tehrik-i-Insaf and Labour Party.

Apart from the provincial capital, journalists also took out rallies in Faisalabad, Multan, Sargodha, Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh, Sheikhupura, Muzaffarharh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Vehari, Sahiwal and Okara.

In Sindh, journalists took out rallies condemning the police action.

In Hyderabad, working journalists and activists of some political parties and civil society organisations held a joint rally.Black flags were hoisted at press clubs all over Sindh and journalists wore black armbands.

Demonstrations and protest rallies were also held in Thatta, Tando Allahyar, Badin, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tando Adam, Khipro, Shahdadpur, Shikarpur, Naushahro Feroze, Bhirya, Jacobabad and Dadu.

In the NWFP, rallies and protest meetings were organised in Peshawar, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Timergara, Bannu, Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Hangu, Khar and Landi Kotal.

In Balochistan, a protest rally was held in Quetta to condemn the brutal police action against journalists and lawyers.