PFUJ concerned over dubbing newsmen ‘anti-state elements’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) on Wednesday expressed strong reservations over the dubbing of some senior journalists ‘anti-state elements’ on charges of sharing some tweets on social media platform.

In a joint statement issued here, PFUJ President Afzal Butt and Secretary General Ayub Jan Sarhandi have rejected the charges leveled against the journalists and termed it baseless and uncalled for.

“Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression to the citizens of Pakistan. One may has the right to disagree to a particular statement, remarks, opinion and views, but it cannot be painted as ‘unpatriotic business’. This is unprecedented gesture,” they said.

It is pertinent to mention here that an image of social media accounts on a slideshow was put up how these were linked to several other accounts that had a habit of tweeting against the state. The image also showed twitter accounts of many journalists including Umar Cheema, Matiullah Jan, Azaz Syed, Ammar Masood, Nasrullah Khan, Fakhar Durrani and Rizwan Razi.

The PFUJ leaders demanded withdrawal of sweeping statement against the journalists as this move has put the lives of the concerned journalists in danger. They said such type of blaming in the past had deepened the crisis and barred the flow of information and caused irreparable damage to the national interest and national unity.