‘Those speaking for rights must be ready for consequences’

LAHORE: Media was not free in the country and those who speak for rights of people will have to face serious consequences.

These views were expressed by speakers at a session ‘The censored: voices excluded from mainstream’, organised under the Asma Jahangir Conference at a local hotel here on Saturday.

Renowned journalist Nasim Zehra moderated the session in which Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain, Amber Shamsi, Matiullah Jan, Farooq Tariq (labour rights activist) and Absar Alam (former chair of Pemra and senior journalist) participated.

Amber Shamsi said she was thankful that she was still alive and working. She said she had switched to digital media after being sent off screen. “Mainstream media is not screening the true picture,” she said, adding anyone who tried to speak for the rights of people will have to face arrests, threats, attacks, disappearance and even death.

Hamid Mir said he was shot at and was thankful to Allah for giving him life. He said events of suppression of journalists brought a bad name for the country. “We speak selective truth. Owners of the media houses should also bring truth in front of people to end censorship and unwanted phone calls,” he said.

The incumbent government was proudly defending the recent legislation done in favour of Kulbhushan Jadhav and holding dialogue with banned outfits, he said adding the opposition, despite having majority in Senate, was defeated twice, “showing very clearly how much our parliament is free”.

Hamid Mir said the censorship would not work for a long time as digital media was strengthening and making its place. Absar Alam said that when he was working as Pemra chairman, he received 26 complaints from journalists about Amir Liaquat Hussain, and he stopped his programme on Bol TV. He said after that, he received a call from a general, who said he wanted to meet him. “I invited him to my office, thinking there must be something serious and of national interest and we prepared presentations about working of Pemra. But when he came there, he only said that spare Amir Liaquat,” Absar Alam recalled.

He said after being removed from the seat of Pemra chairman, some newspapers asked him to write, and when he did, they refused to publish his articles and he was also not called to any TV programme. He said he started tweeting after which he was shot at. He said digital media was giving a tough competition to the mainstream media and that was the power of digital media that exposed General Asim Bajwa and he had to leave the country.

“People of Pakistan are the real owners of this country and no one has the right to deny them their legitimate right to expression and right to information,” he said and added that stop fearing and continue raising voice on digital media, if mainstream media was not covering their issues.

Matiullah Jan said if there was rule of law in the country then the chief justice did not need to punch the dice while saying that the judiciary was free. He said several anchors on the mainstream media were also saying that media was free, but it was not true. He endorsed Hamid Mir and said the case of harassment to media persons was still pending in the court.

Farooq Tariq said that civil society was standing with the journalist community and participated in every struggle. He said during the lawyer movement, the civil society played a key role. He said civil society and journalists faced Ayub, Yahya, Ziaul Haq and Musharraf and were still fighting for free media.

Senior journalist Talat Hussain said that free media was the key to true democracy. He said “we should not wait for a major crisis to occur before raising our voices”. He said digital media was a very effective platform for the purpose. A short question and answer session was also held at the end of the session.