Journalists disrupted by force in Dera Ghazi Khan from discussing grave problems for media practitioners in South Punjab
Press Release
ISLAMABAD, 25 November 2024: Plain-clothed administration officials and cops in Punjab Police uniform have disrupted and forced an early end to a meeting of journalists discussing safety challenges and the state of media freedoms in the Seraiki belt of Punjab province and expelled Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Pakistan representative Iqbal Khattak and an accompanying team of Pakistani media watchdog Freedom Network from Dera Ghazi Khan district.
“Stop the meeting and leave the district,” a district administration official who introduced himself as “Tehsildar [sub-district officer] Chaudhry Haneef,” accompanied by a Punjab Police official with a badge on his right chest inscribed with “SHO [Station House Officer] Younas,” from Saddar Police Station, told Khattak.
The incident took place on Thursday – 21 November 2024, according to a press statement Freedom Network issued here on Monday (25 Nov. 24).
Khattak is also an official member of the “Punjab Journalists Protection Coordination Committee” established by the Punjab government in 2023 with support of former caretaker information minister Amir Mir to investigate crimes of impunity against journalists in Punjab and provide official support to the journalists’ community. The deputy inspector general (legal) of of Punjab Police heads the committee.
The meeting was being conducted at the Overseas Banquet Hall – Hotel and Suites in Dera Ghazi Khan city as part of regular Freedom Network research initiatives analysing the state of media freedoms in Pakistani provinces and regions and outreach to and dialogues with media practitioners in those regions.
Haneef and Younas failed to show any written official directive, as required under law, or cite any legal provision allowing them to disrupt and force an early end to a lawful, private and peaceful meeting of journalists. Instead, they gruffly asked the RSF Pakistan representative, Freedom Network team members and local journalists, including a woman media practitioner, attending the discussion to “wind up the meeting and leave the venue at once.”
“Ironically, the local journalists had been lamenting about widespread intimidation, enforced censorship, self-censorship and threats and violence they face by intelligence agencies’ personnel and district officials only minutes before the team raided the premises, disrupted the meeting and forced a premature end to it,” Khattak said.
The meeting with journalists from Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh and Layyah districts was part of a series of discussions with leadership of press club, regional unions of journalists, key police officials, political parties and civil society leaders in the South Punjab region – also known as Seraiki Wasaib by natives – to frame recommendations for the Punjab government concerning safety of journalists and state of freedom of expression and freedom of association in Seraiki belt of Punjab province.
No charge-sheet was framed nor any citation of violation of any law was given by the raiding team except that Tehsildar Haneef said: “The AC [assistant commissioner] has ordered us.” Pressed to provide any written order from the assistant commissioner, the tehsildar said: “We have verbal orders. You know how the system works.”
The raiding team even did not allow the meeting participants to take their lunch. The tehsildar continued taking instructions on the phone from unknown sources who he was calling every time his assertion was challenged on legal ground. The raiding officials also kept pressuring the hotel administration to force the meeting participants out by turning out lights and forcing them against serving them lunch after the meeting had been disrupted.
“We met Additional Inspector General Police South Punjab Muhammad Kamran Khan in Multan on 19 November to discuss how the Punjab Journalists Protection Coordination Committee could play its role to protect the journalists in Seraiki belt,” Khattak said.
“We also met former Punjab governor Malik Rafiq Rajwana to seek support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N government in Lahore and he was forthcoming. We also met senior lawyers and civil society leaders in the region on measures that can help stakeholders combat impunity for crimes against journalists in the region,” he added.
Local authorities forcibly shuttered the Dera Ghazi Khan Press Club in June 2024 after opposition leaders addressed a press conference and sent club president Sher Afghan Buzdar and press club secretary to one-month imprisonment under the 3 MPO [maintenance of public order] law. Both were in attendance at the meeting and alleged severe torture while in custody.
The closure of the press club for six months has been a setback to the local population in a region known for its under-development and dismal human development indicators who have no place to air their grievances before Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif whose government has displayed billboards and banners in many districts encouraging citizens to “lodge complaints” against local district administration ensuring accountability of government departments.
“The closure of the Dera Ghazi Khan Press Club is a grave violation of the government’s self-professed commitment to defend freedom of expression, and we hope Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz will take personal interest to look into the issue and help reopen the club at the earliest,” Khattak said.
Caption: SHO Younas and his cop stand outside the hotel where Dera Ghazi Khan admin disrupted a meeting of journalists discussing safety and security challenges. Freedom Network photo.
