Press under threat: Safma

South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) Secretary General Imtiaz Alam speaking in a seminar on "Excesses on journalists in the country," here on Sunday said that press was under threat from state as well as non-state actors.
Stating that kidnap and murder of journalists in the country were stigma on the authorities, he stressed that this situation needed to improve. Referring to dire state of affairs in tribal areas, he averred that no journalist was safe there, and said that much of the tribal belt appeared to be 'No go Area' for journalists where performance of duties for them was highly risky affair.
He said Safma was in process of establishing Press Commissions for the countries of South Asia and meeting of these commissions in this regard would be held in Delhi on March 1. Alam disclosing Safma's efforts for journalist cause said a report regarding them would be published on January 4.
He said Safma would establish a fund for the support of journalists and had given cash support to affected journalists of October 2005 tremor. Earlier, Sadaf Ashraf presenting a report on "Excesses on journalists in Pakistan" in 2006 stated that four journalists were killed in the country during the period.
She said a large number of journalists were kidnapped or harassed in the country during the period. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) former President I.H. Rashid speaking on the occasion dilated that censor and problems to press in the country were not new.
He said even the speech of Founder of the country Muhammad Ali Jinnah on August 11, 1948 stating that everybody had the equal rights in the new country was censored by then regime. He said 'Dawn' was the only paper that had the courage to publish this, he added.
Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) former General Secretary and a veteran journalist, Aziz Mazhar in his speech asked all the journalists bodies to form a unison platform for protection of journalists in the country. PUJ former president Jalil Hasan Akhtar Raja speaking on the occasion said that democracy and freedom of press was the promise of journalists to the motherland, which they would fulfil at all costs.
He said process of enlightenment ongoing in the country needed to dwell its good effects on journalist fraternity and their security and economic safety need to be guaranteed by the state. He said incidents of murder and kidnapping in the country had dropped the graph of press freedom in the country in international rating, which was an unfortunate thing that needs to be immediately corrected. Senior journalist and activist Rashid Rehman in his address dilated that journalism was standing at a threshold in the country at present.