KARACHI, March 3: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society has strongly deplored the arbitrary ban on federal as well as provincial government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt group of publications and termed it a contravention of freedom of the press as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

APNS secretary-general Mohammad Aslam Kazi, in a statement, has said that the recent action against the Nawa-i-Waqt Group indicates a worsening environment for freedom of the press in Pakistan.

It is becoming exceedingly difficult for the governments to live with a free and independent press in Pakistan. Of late, the present military-cum-civil administration has become increasingly hostile towards any criticism whatsoever in the press. This hostility has manifested itself by various acts against the press and pressmen in the country," the APNS said in a statement.

It said the release of government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation had been stopped to force the publications to obey the dictates of the government and amend their editorial policies.

Describing them as uncalled for, the APNS said while on one hand, the present government had repeatedly declared that the press in Pakistan was free and the government was prepared to tolerate any criticism by the press, on the other, the Islamabad authorities had reacted sharply to the editorial contents of Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation.

This action recalls the policies adopted by dictatorial regimes in the past. The APNS has urged the federal and the Punjab governments to immediately withdraw the ban imposed on the two papers.