KARACHI, Aug 21: Newspaper editors and journalists on Sunday boycotted Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s news conference to register their protest against what they called the insulting attitude of officials at the Governor’s House.

At an emergency joint meeting held at the Karachi Press Club, representatives of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the Karachi Press Club strongly condemned the ‘most deplorable and insulting attitude of officials at the Governor’s House with the editors, publishers and pressmen invited to attend a briefing and press conference by the prime minister.

A resolution adopted at the meeting called upon all member publications of the CPNE and the APNS to boycott the coverage of the press conference and other functions of the prime minister in Karachi on Sunday.

The resolution sought a written ‘apology from the Governor’s House for the most deplorable treatment meted out to editors, publishers and journalists and wished to record its determination to ensure and uphold the honour and dignity of the press.’ It also called upon the prime minister and the governor of Sindh to take notice of the failure on the part of the Press Information Department and the Sindh Information Department to drive home to the officials and executives of the Governor’s House and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat to respect the media, especially when the meeting had been called by the prime minister.

The meeting also demanded withdrawal of cases against journalists, lifting of ban on newspapers and weeklies and release of the editor of weekly Wujood.