Sunday, March 6, 2011

PFUJ slams police action against journalists


PFUJ slams police action against journalists

ISLAMABAD, March 6: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has condemned the lathi-charge on peaceful members of the Karachi Union of Journalists who were staging a peaceful rally to protest against the per-longed non-implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award and extraordinary delay in the decisions of the wirt filed by media owners in the Sindh High Court.

According to reports reaching the PFUJ Secretariat here on Saturday, more than half dozen senior journalists sustained injures owing to lathi-charge by the Karachi police when they tried to reach the Sindh High Court where Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had come for the oathtaking ceremony of the Karachi Bar Association.

On their way to the SHC, they were stopped by the police near the Sindh Assembly building. However, a large number of journalists succeeded in crossing the barriers and they reach the high court.

Hundreds of the media persons and members of the Karachi Union of Journalists, assembled before the English newspaper - DAWN to protest against the continued non-implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award since July 2011 and pending the case for adjudication of the same in the court for over decades.

The media persons paraded on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, I I Chundrigar Road and passed in front of the Supreme Court building after holding protests in front Dawn, Jang, Geo and other newspaper buildings. They were chanting slogans for early decision on the 7th Wage Board case lodged by the media owners organisations All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS).

The protest really which was led by KUJ leders Hassan Abbas, Rafique Blouch, Shakil Yamin Kanga, Rafique Bashir, Wajid Raza Ispahanii, after parading through various roads of the city, tried to cross the barriers put up by the police near Sindh Assembly building where they were confronted by the police.

However, the leaders of the KUJ, including KUJ president Siraj Ahmed, and GS Hasan Abbas met the registrar of the High Court and presented a memorandum.

Sharply reacting to this incident, the PFUJ pointed out that the 7th Wage award was made effective from Ist July 2000 but the media owners succeeded in getting a retraint order firstly from the SC and thereafter from the Sindh High Court.

Owing to the restraint order issued by the superior courts, the media persons are forced to receive minimum wages and other fringe benefits which were worked out under the 6th Wage Board Award on the basis of the price hike index operative in 1995, the PFUJ added.

Not only this, the wage structure under the wage board award are fixed as a minimum wages which required to be revised after every five years, however, due to restraint courts order the media persons are being deprived of rights of fair wages which were supposed in 8th and 9th Wage Board, which are still to be constituted under the law, the PFUJ argued.

The restraint order which the media owners got firstly from the SC remained in operation almost for five years. Thereafter, they got the same from the Sindh High Court. However, the Sindh high Court after lengthy and per-longed proceedings concluded the hearing of the case and reserved its judgments on 23th Aug. 2010 which is yet to be announced.

In this backdrop the media persons are left with no option but to raise their voice on the streets which is their democratic and fundamental right, but it is pity the law enforcing agencies opted to use force against peaceful journalists and inflected injures over haf a dozen media persons by resorting to lathi-charge, the PFUJ asserted.

The PFUJ said that it is dictum laid down by the superior courts that "justice delayed is justice denied" and under the National Judicial Policy formulated by the Supreme Judicial Council for early disposal of pending cases, yet the media persons of Pakistan fundamental rights of "minimum wages" case is put in the cold storage for over a decade but no heed is being paid despite their hue and cry.

The PFUJ once again urged the international media and human rights organisations to take notice of the injustice being meted out to media persons of Pakistan.


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