QUETTA: Members of civil society, lawyers and journalists vowed not to compromise on freedom of the press at a seminar on Tuesday in remembrance of 41 journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty in different areas of Balochistan over the last several decades.
The speakers expressed concern that the culprits behind the slaying of journalists remain at large.
Jan Mohammad Achakzai, the caretaker provincial information minister, administrator of the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation Jabbar Baloch, the president of Balochistan Union of Journalists, Irfan Saeed, and Quetta Press Club President Abdul Khaliq Rind spoke at the seminar.
Jabbar Baloch, the QMC administrator, announced the city council had decided to rename the intersection of Circular Road and Inscomb Road in honour of slain journalists.
“A beautiful roundabout will be constructed in memory of our martyrs,” Jabbar Baloch said.
Jan Achakzai, the information minister, said: “It is an honour that I started my career in journalism from this place and today I am present here with my friends as a minister.”
“I am aware that a journalist faces a lot of hardship while working in Balochistan.”
Mr Achakzai called upon media magnates to pay salaries in time.
He said the total budget of Balochistan was Rs 550 million, an amount that is inadequate for any uplift work. He said it was unfortunate that the provinces resources had never been utilised properly.
The minister said the media only airs bad news about Balochistan.
He praised the Balochistan Press Club, saying it had become an “exemplary institution”.
Mr Achakzai said unlike journalists in other provinces, the journalists working in Balochistan did not have “satisfactory arrangements for accommodation”.
Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2023