Media Immediacy - Pakistan

MEDIA IMMEDIACY: ASIA ONLINE

L o c a l A s i a

Pakistan South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net
The South Asia Citizen's Web is an independent space on the net to promote dialogue and information exchange between and about South Asian citizens initiatives [located in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and in their diasporic communities]. The main rubrics on this site are - Civil Society, Peace, Democracy, Secularism, social movements, the women's movement, Environmental Campaigns, labour movement activism, human rights groups and campaigns, citizens action against Communalism and Religious fundamentalism, news, films, journals contents pages, research projects and book catalogues.

LAHORE, Pakistan - May 20, 1999 (Free Press Syndicate): "The press in Pakistan is being increasingly subjected to different kinds of intimidation and strong-arm tactics with an objective to silence the voices of dissent. Recent acts of terrorism, threatening calls, illegal detentions and excessive use of state leverages against the journalists and the press have now assumed a systematic pattern of harassment and victimization of some of those who cannot otherwise be tamed or bribed by the authorities.

State of the Journalists in Pakistan, 2000 www.oneworld.net/anydoc_mc.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsyberwurx%2Ecom%2Fjrc%2Freportservay%2Ehtml
A long independent survey dated May 2000, includes the following remarks, curiously out of synch with the preceding quote:

"In an article published in the Urdu daily Pakistan on August 7, 1999, Sarwat Jamal, a columnist, remarked that Muslim journalism, which started in the Subcontinent with pure missionary and constructive zeal has degenerated into commercialism, blackmail, scandal, materialism, sensationalism and mental torture. Some nonprofessional journalists have sold out their pens. The situation has become so grave that police stations pay monthlies to journalists."

Chowk www.chowk.com
An inspired online magazine and community (its name translates roughly as 'neighborhood') where feedback is more than encouraged — it's a major element of the site. Even poetry is critiqued, and a recent article on marital rape provoked over 300 responses. "At Chowk all are welcome to read, write, and think..."

Pakistan Development Gateway www.sdnpk.org/
Pakistan’s first and only development gateway - envisioned as a one stop site for all significant development information on Pakistan that exists on the web.

Kashmirnet www.kashmir.co.uk/

According to the unofficial sources more than 70,000 Kashmiris — mostly unarmed civilians — have been killed since 1989, over 40,000 are languishing in Indian jails without charge or trial, more than 175,000 Kashmiris have been made homeless and destitute through deliberate acts of arson and wanton destruction and well over 150,000 people, both Hindus and Muslims, have been displaced.

    It is an appalling tragedy that so many people have perished, that the lives of two generations have been blighted, that India and Pakistan have gone to war twice, and that the resources of the Indian subcontinent have been diverted into an arms race, away from much-needed development.
    All this suffering and misery, all this waste of human and economic potential could have been avoided if India and Pakistan would give up their Ostrich-like posture over Kashmir and resolve the conflict through a peaceful dialogue.
    While Kashmir, a "heaven on earth," is in flames, and its people, history, culture and beauty are being systematically destroyed, the world community has done very little so far to help bring an end to the sad ordeal of Kashmir.

Pakistan Television News www.oneworld.org/ppf

Pakistan Press Foundation www.oneworld.org/ppf
An independent media research, documentation and training centre committed to defending and promoting freedom of expression in Pakistan and internationally. The site includes important news stories about the media and information technology relating to Pakistan, with separate section on attacks on the media. The annual Pakistan Press Freedom Report is widely accepted as the most credible and comprehensive report on press freedom in Pakistan. The report 2001 is also on the site. (Contributed by Owais Aslam Ali, PPF Secretary General)

The government will soon promulgate ordinances relating to access to information, establishment of an electronic media regulatory authority and a press council, a senior Press Information Department (PID) official said. Speaking at a seminar held in connection with the World Press Freedom Day, the official said the long-standing demand of the media professionals regarding access to information law would soon be fulfilled as the draft of the said ordinance is under the consideration of the government. The Law Ministry is vetting the draft law at present, he said, adding that it would be promulgated soon.

Dilating on the steps taken by the government to free the country’s electronic media, Ishfaq Gondal, the PID official, said the government was considering allowing private television and radio channels to function in the country. "Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) will supervise the functioning of private TV and radio channels once it is set up through an ordinance," he added.

Portals:

Hilinks.com
MegaWow
One7.com
Pakistan Web Directory
PakWeb
Power Page
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