Asia Times: Freedom for Sethi, but media's war goes on



	June 09, 1999	atimes.com

Media/Technology

Freedom for Sethi, but media's war goes on
By Amir Mir

LAHORE - Najam Sethi, a prominent Pakistaninewspaper editor who was in police custody for 25 days for makingan anti-state speech in India, was set free last week, but otherjournalists remain in jail.

Treason charges against Sethi, editor of The Friday Times,were quashed by the Supreme Court on June 2, and Justice MamoonQazi, a member of the three-judge bench, said the governmentcannot proceed against him on the same charges.

''I have been set free, which means that the case against mehas been withdrawn,'' Sethi said immediately after he wasreunited with his family, friends and admirers in Islamabad.

''I hope the government of Pakistan will display democratictendencies, respect human rights and press freedom,'' Sethi wasseparately quoted as saying in a newspaper interview Friday.

Pakistan's independent media has had several highly-publicizedrun-ins with the government on matters of policy and governanceover the last six months.

The week Sethi was whisked away from his home late at night,two others were detained and two journalists received threateningcalls. While Hussain Haqqani, columnist and oppositionpolitician, is still in custody on corruption charges, MehmoodLodhi of The News daily was released after two days.

He was quizzed about a documentary film being made by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation on government corruptionfor which he only provided the team with some contacts, he saidlater. Both Haqqani and Sethi had been interviewed by the BBCteam.

The authorities said Sethi was taken into custody for hisDelhi speech of April 30, in which he saidPakistan was in the throes of multiple crises, including abreakdown of law and order, national security and identity.

Ejaz Haider, a columnist with The Friday Times, said thegovernment was not able to produce convincing evidence to backthe charge.

According to him, the Nawaz Sharif government backed off toside-step a ''serious diplomatic row'' with the U.S. StateDepartment over press freedom in Pakistan. Support for Sethi andindependent journalists has come from all over the world.

''No government can teach the press any lessons that thepress doesn't know already. One lesson an independent and freepress will never learn is to give up its independence,'' Sethi said after his release.

Since January, the government has filed a variety of chargesagainst newspaper editors and publishers, ranging from income taxevasion to drug trafficking. There have also been several violentattacks against journalists.

Imtiaz Alam, editor of current affairs at The News, had his newcar set on fire, and Mir Shakil ur Rehman, the newspaperpublisher, said he had been pressured by a powerful governmentcommissioner to demote a number of employees.

''This government has zero tolerance for dissent. It's notjust a few cases; there is a total assault on whatever is left ofcivil society,'' observed Afrasiab Khan Khattak, chairman of theindependent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which has alsobeen under fire.

Aides to Sharif, however, deny they are trying to silencecriticism, and say critical editorials and columns appearregularly in various newspapers. The last three editions of TheFriday Times have published scathing editorials on the Sethicase and continue to pound Sharif, his family andofficial circle as corrupt and dictatorial.

The English-language Frontier Post reported this week thatthe government has prepared a list of several prominentjournalists it plans to target. The newspaper's owner, RehmatShah Afridi, is in jail on charges of drug smuggling.

''The federal government has decided to establish a specialmedia cell comprising officials from the police, IntelligenceBureau and the Federal Investigation Agency to punishindependent journalists who are writing against the presentgovernment,'' the newspaper reported.

Outspoken journalists could be abducted, threatened over thephone, stalked, burglarized or arrested for drinking(prohibited in Islamic Pakistan), sources in the ''Ehtesab''(accountability) cell said.

The government is determined to rein in the media, says M.Ziauddin, a prominent columnist of Dawn. ''After tamingthe judiciary, army and the presidency, Prime Minister NawazSharif's government has gone all out against his media critics."

Journalists fighting for press freedom think the government ishell-bent on crushing dissent. ''More than 95 percent of ourpress has already surrendered . . . the next government move wouldbe the imposition of a Press Council, with a view to furthertighten executive rule over media,'' says Imtiaz Alam.

Pakistan's small but influential independent media have so farrefused to be cowed.

(Inter Press Service)