Rabbani condemns denial of CPJ rep’s entry into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani Saturday condemned the denial of entry to Steven Butler of the Committee of Protection of Journalist (CPJ) to Pakistan and said that it was unfortunate and brought a bad name to the country. “The refusal of the entry to CPJ representatives was allegedly on the basis that his name was on stop list of the Interior Ministry. The government needs to tell the people of Pakistan that what, if any, is the legal course of the said list,” he said in a statement on Saturday. Mian Raza Rabbani said the government claims that it is building a soft image of Pakistan while on the other hand it refuses the entry to a journalist with a valid visa. He said this is an alarming sign that the freedom of expression continues to be under attack in our country. “It is unfortunate that unannounced censorship continues to be enforced in Pakistan,” he said. The former chairman Senate said the continued censorship of the media is the denial of the fundamental rights of the citizen of Pakistan in terms of Article 19 and 19A of the Constitution.