KARACHI, June 1: The Pakistan People’s Party has condemned the restrictions on electronic media. Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, Sindh PPP Information Secretary Nafees Ahmed Siddiqui said the decision seemed to be taken in the backdrop of the May 12 bloodbath when the electronic media exposed the gory details of the killing spree.

Defending the role of media, Mr Siddiqui said it had always played a positive role by highlighting different national issues including the cases of disappearances and the current judicial crisis.

He said the PPP would in no way accept the restrictions on live broadcasts in the electronic media as it would throttle the voice of dissent.

Flanked by PPP leaders Waqar Mehdi, MPA Rafiq Engineer and Saeed Ghani, he said people had made great sacrifices for the freedom of expression and they would fully protect it.

Mr Siddiqui said the country was passing through a crucial phase as the legal fraternity launched a struggle for the independence of judiciary after March 9.

He regretted that one pillar of the state had been controlling the other three pillars. But, he lauded the struggle being launched by lawyers and media to activate the civil society. As a result of this struggle, he said a great awareness among the people had been developed and they had now been aware of the problems, which were kept in dormant by the ruling elite for many years.

The PPP leader said his party believed in complete freedom of expression and in an independent judiciary because both were inter-linked. He demanded that all restrictions on the media should be lifted immediately.

Mr Siddiqui said his party was against putting restrictions on the freedom of any individual. He said, “Imran being a Pakistani has a right to move around any part of the country and we completely back his efforts against terrorism and in favour of democracy.”

He reiterated that PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto would return to Pakistan after the announcement of election schedule and made it clear that his party would continue to support the struggle of lawyers for independence of judiciary.