The APNS strongly condemns the heinous acts of police assault on the media and rejects all efforts to silence the press, stated a press release of the Society.

Kazi Asad Abid, Secretary General of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society has stated that the APNS at its meeting held on Saturday under the chairmanship of its acting President Inquilab Matri decided to form a Joint Action Committee of the APNS, CPNE and PBA to take suitable actions to ensure freedom of press in the country as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan.
The APNS committee urged the Government of Pakistan to appoint an independent judicial commission to investigate and report on Friday's outrageous assault by uniformed police on the offices of Geo TV, Daily Jang and Daily The News in Islamabad.
The members were unanimous that the assault on Geo and the Daily Jang were a logical conclusion of the government's increasingly heavy-handed tactics towards the media.
President Musharraf's apology will be meaningless until the masterminds, responsible for such an outright attack are brought to book. The Committee also noted that despite assurances by the President, the nefarious system of press advises was still on which should be stopped forthwith.
He further stated that the APNS while considers such actions as strangulating the free press reiterates its commitment to brave the situation with stronger resolve to protect the freedom of press.
The Secretary General, APNS, announced that the Joint Action Committee headed by Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and composed of the representatives of the three organisations of media will soon meet to decide their further line of action.-PR