KARACHI, June 7: Journalists across the city observed a ‘black day’ on Thursday to condemn violence against media men, ‘draconian’ laws to curb press freedom and non-implementation of the seventh wage award.

The Karachi Union of Journalists held a protest meeting which was chaired by president Shamim-ur-Rehman and addressed by Karachi Press Club president Sabihuddin Ghousi and secretary Imtiaz Faran, KUJ general- secretary Javed Chaudhry, Maqsood Yusufi, Idrees Bakhtiar, Javed Saba and Omar Asghar.

The ‘black day’ was observed on a call given by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. The protesters, belonging to both the print and electronic media, wore black armbands and hoisted black flags atop the KPC building.

They also took out a protest demonstration in which representatives of the legal fraternity and activists of various political parties and civil society organisations took part.

Participants of the demonstration, holding placards and banners, condemned the Pemra Ordinance, curbs on press freedom and injustices with the journalist community. They chanted slogans to demand the restoration of press freedom, an end to the contract system, implementation of the 7th wage award, etc.

The demonstration started from the KPC and ended at the Governor House via Zainab Market, Panorama Centre and Fawara Chowk. At the Governor House, the KUJ chief presented a memorandum to the governor’s press secretary. The memorandum strongly condemned curbs on press freedom, attack on journalists and non-implementation of the 7th wage award. It demanded withdrawal of the Pemra laws, maintaining that the draconian laws were aimed at gagging the press, imposing censorship on broadcasters and preventing coverage of the events relating to the presidential reference against the chief justice of Pakistan.

The KUJ noted with concern that the government had failed to arrest those involved in the killing of four journalists last year. It regretted that even the report pertaining to the killing of Hayatullah Khan could not be made public. The journalists reportedly picked up by intelligence agencies were still under threat and feared about their fate, it observed.

The KUJ also expressed concern over the new trend of targeting families of journalists, particularly those working in the tribal areas. The situation had forced several journalists to quit their area of residence or even the profession. The threats, it noted, did not only come from the intelligence agencies, but also from the militant groups.

The KUJ also took exception to the “press release” issued by an ethnic organization that had named certain journalists and columnists as ‘chauvinists’, and said that such threats were unacceptable to the journalist community.