ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) former senator Farhatullah Babar has said, “Some wield guns and others carry religious books in their heads and together they deny to the journalists and human rights defenders the space for the internationally recognised and constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of expression.”
He stated this while speaking at a discussion of ‘Freedom of Expression and Safety of journalists’ organized by the National Commission on Human Rights here on Thursday.
Farhatullah Babar said that the Article 19 the Constitution guaranteed freedom of expression ‘subject to reasonable restrictions imposed by law’ in certain areas like ‘national security’ and ‘relations with foreign countries’ etc. However, no legislation has been made to define the parameters of ‘reasonable restrictions’ with the result that ‘national security’ is defined arbitrarily and ridiculously to deny the right to freedom of expression, he added.
Giving examples, he said that a journalist in Balochistan was arrested by FIA on the basis of a complaint of an officer of FC alleging posting of “controversial and demoralizing statements” on journalist’s face book that “created havoc in the society” and put “the lives of officers of the agencies in danger”. The FC officer had merely quoted an unnamed “source report” as the basis of allegation.
The SG PPPP said that investigations were ordered against some journalists for posting the pictures of journalist Jamal Khashogi during the visit of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to Pakistan. Journalist Shahzeb Jillani detained and charged with allegedly undermining national security for questioning a national award to some individual.
He said that the parameters of ‘national security’ have been so enlarged that it has become an elephant in the room. He called for appropriate legislation to clearly define its parameters.
Farhatullah Babar said that Pakistan has committed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its own national agenda. It is mandatory to report yearly on cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists and human rights activists. He called for devising a mechanism for preparing such annual reports.
The seminar was attended by representatives from National Commission on Human Rights, Ministries of Human Rights and Interior, Law & Justice besides FIA, PEMRA, PTA, Pakistan Bar Council, NDRA and other stakeholders.
