Engineered elections will hurt national unity: Raza Rabbani

Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said on Wednesday that it is unfortunate that in the run-up to the General Elections 2018, attempts are being made to intimidate the print and electronic media by way of physical intimidation, abduction and torture of dissenting journalists, in addition to blocking of news channels.

He said such actions were a denial of Article 19 of the Constitution, 1973, which is a fundamental right that ensured freedom of the press. Such actions are also a denial of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19 (A), which is the right of every citizen to have access to information in all matters of public interest, he added.

Rabbani further said that the harassment of dissenting journalists, newspaper editors and columnists was highly condemnable, while adding that intimidation was not only limited to working journalists but was also faced by newspaper distributors and cable operators.

The slide carrying photographs of prominent journalists/columnists during a press conference of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) was highly regrettable, he added.

He also said that Amnesty International and the International Press Institute had referred to these incidents in their reports/letters. If this campaign of intimidation continues, the holding of free, fair and just elections, as stipulated under the Constitution, would become next to impossible, he added. He said, “Let such forces be warned that the social and political fibre of Pakistani society and the polarisation within the federation cannot withstand the pressure of engineered elections.”

Moreover, Rabbani said that the media was the fourth pillar of the state and it appeared that a hidden hand was gradually dismantling the pillars of the federation in order to weaken it. He said the executive had been isolated due to bad governance, while the parliament had been unable to defend itself. One by one, the pillars have been targeted to the extent that they were now becoming irrelevant actors in the affairs of the state, he added.

The most appropriate forum for raising this issue was the Committee of the Whole or the Standing Committee on Information of the Senate, but unfortunately, it seemed that the Senate had deliberately shut its doors, he concluded.