KARACHI, July 18: The president of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, Mujibur Rahman Shami, and general secretary Mahmudul Aziz, have in a joint statement urged the government of Sindh to withdraw the order banning the publication of the two Karachi Urdu dailies, Morning and Evening Special.

They said the CPNE had always maintained that the government should not take the drastic measure of banning a newspaper and any action against newspapers and their editors and printers should be under the normal laws of the land.

They said the government had time and again reiterated its commitment to freedom of the press. Only today the PRO of the government has reiterated that position in a letter to a national daily. In this background, the extreme action of banning the publication of two dailies was uncalled for.

To consider this situation, a meeting of the member/editors of the CPNE has been called at the Avari Towers, Karachi, at 5pm on Friday.