"This brutal and violent attack on our colleagues in Pakistan is a shocking escalation of the suppression of media freedom in Pakistan," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife. "The government must release these journalists immediately."
The IFJ has been supporting its affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in a campaign against the censorship and shutdown of media outlets in Pakistan since emergency rule was declared on November 3.
The Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) says as many as 180 journalists, including 12 women, were arrested when they staged their protest as part of a nation-wide protest action organized by the PFUJ in Karachi and other cities to protest media restrictions imposed under the state of emergency. Those arrested include KUJ leaders and many senior journalists, the group said.
HEAD INJURIES
Witnesses told media that they saw protestors bleeding from head injuries. Reports also indicate that police detained 23 journalists after they tried to hold a rally in the southern city of Hyderabad, IFJ said.
The latest protest came shortly after the Christian leaning Rays of Development (ROD) rights group participated in a peaceful demonstration against the state of emergency and related crack down on media in the town of Sargodha, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Islamabad.
Minority Christians are among those expressing concerns that the current state of emergency
and restrictions on media will make it even more difficult for them to express themselves and fuel Islamic extremism in the country, despite pledges by General Pervez Musharraf, the president that he wants to crack down on militants.
"We are protesting against the restrictions on media, and to express our concern and solidarity with the Pakistani media," said Muhammad Ahmad Khan, the Chairman of Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO), adding that the authorities should release all those detained for their involvement in protests.
"AUTROCITIES" COMMITTED
TWO General Secretary Rubina Feroze Bhatti told BosNewsLife that the government should end "atrocities" and ensure an "autonomous judiciary, re-instatement of the constitution of 1973, as well as the obliteration of the state of emergency in the country and [the re-establishment] of an independent parliament."
She and other protesters demonstrated Monday, November 19 in front of the Press Club Sargodha chanting "Live and let others live", "Liberate the Judiciary” and “Allow news channels to transmit their programs".
The protests also came as a major challenge for the caretaker government which was sworn in by President Musharraf Friday, November 16, to steer emergency-ruled Pakistan toward elections, scheduled for January 8.
Musharraf himself won another battle Monday, November 19, after Pakistan’s Supreme Court dismissed main legal challenges to his presidential re-election. The court also struck down the challenges after one of the petitioners argued that judges appointed by President Musharraf did not have the authority to decide legal challenges against him.
THOUSAND "RELEASED"
The president has made clear he wants to continue emergency rule under which thousands have been arrested. On Tuesday, November 20, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said about 3,400 prisoners detained since emergency rule was decreed on November 3 have since been released.
However officials admitted that at least 2,000 more people, including Christian activists and journalists, remain in detention.
Prominent opposition activist and former cricket star Imran Khan meanwhile began a hunger strike while in detention Monday, November 19, to protest emergency rule, BosNewsLife monitored.
