Journalists stage country-wide protests against PECA Amendments

Journalist bodies strongly protested against the PECA amendments across the major cities on Tuesday 28 January.

During the passage of the bill in the Senate, journalists walked out of the Senate press gallery in protest. Later, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) organised a protest march from the Islamabad National Press Club to D-Chowk, where, addressing the crowd, PFUJ President Afzal Butt called the bill a ‘black law’.

In Karachi, responding to an appeal by PFUJ, the Joint Action Committee of Media Bodies (JAC) staged a protest outside Karachi Press Club. Mazhar Abbas, a senior member of PFUJ commented “The government has to learn the lessons as it was earlier used against the same party, which had passed the law in a haste.” Members of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) were also in attendance.