PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has expressed its serious concerns over the ban on reporting of judicial proceedings and described it against the freedom of expression.

In a statement issued here on Thursday ANP central spokesperson Engineer Ehsanullah Khan said that the recent move by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to restrict reporting of judicial proceedings was not acceptable to the people.

He said it was a matter of serious concern that the successive governments had always taken very wrong decisions in the past. He said every ruling party had always been on the same page for restrictions on freedom of expression, which was extremely lamentable.

During the PTI regime, he said, the journalists had to suffer due to the restrictions and some of the journalists also faced arrests for fulfilling their professional duties. Condemning the recent notification of Pemra, the ANP spokesperson Ehsanullah Khan said the federal government was repeating the mistakes of the Imran regime.

He said efforts were being made to suppress the voices of political leaders and even the sitting senators. He said ANP central president Aimal Wali Khan’s speech in Senate on state TV was censored.

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should explain whom it wanted to please with such measures, he added. The Pemra notification was against the constitution of Pakistan and fundamental human rights and ANP demanded of the federal government to withdraw the notification immediately, he maintained.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2024