Karachi: President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Karachi PressClub and a huge lot of journalists have widely deplored the cancellation of ARY News NOC by the Ministry of Interior sans serving any notice.

The journalist fraternity and legal experts termed the government’s move as the ‘economic murder’ of the journalists’ families without giving the reasons behind the cancellation of the NOC. Karachi Press Club (KPC) President Fazil Jamili said that such steps were not even taken in the worst scenario of martial laws in the country. He strongly condemned the savage step against ARY News by the federal government. Fazil Jamili said that the Sindh High Court (SHC) issued clear directives and the government was going to create financial troubles for the thousands of media workers and their families amid the skyrocketing inflation. He announced that journalists will record their strong protests across the country.

 KPC Secretary Rizwan Bhatti said that the journalist fraternity will never accept the political and revengeful action against any TV channel.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Afzal Butt said, “This day will be remembered as the Black Day in the history of Pakistani media. Economic murder of thousands of media workers is being committed.” Afzal Butt said that such a situation was not even witnessed in the dictators’ era. He expressed surprise over the move to end the security clearance of a channel after 30 years. The PFUJ president asked the rulers to refrain from making such decisions. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Secretary-General Rana Azeem said that the move has exposed the enmity of the current government with the journalist and thousands of media workers were unemployed.

 The PFUJ secretary general announced to approach the courts and the parliament against the decisions.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 13 2022

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