A leading Pakistani newspaper on Wednesday rejected allegations of “vested interest and false reporting” a day after the government imposed a travel ban on its journalist for reporting on a rift between the civil and military leaderships over covert support to militants.
Dawn came out with a scathing editorial saying Cyril Almeida’s story on the verbal clash between the government and the military — which has generated a lot of heat in the country — was “duly verified and correct piece of reporting.”
Almeida, an assistant editor, on Tuesday said he had been put on the exit control list — a border control system maintained by the Pakistan government which allows it to bar people whose names appear on the list from leaving the country.
Almeida had reported that leading civilian officials had warned the Pakistan Army to renounce its covert support to militants like the Haqqani network, Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba or face international isolation.
“This paper recently reported an extraordinary closed-door meeting between top government and intelligence officials where the foreign secretary briefed them on what he saw as Pakistan’s growing international isolation. Following this, there was a discussion on the impediments in the way of dealing with the problem of militancy in the country,” the daily said in the editorial titled “Reaction to Dawn story”.
“As gatekeeper of information that was ‘verified, cross-checked and fact-checked’, the editor of this paper bears sole responsibility for the story in question,” it said.
It said in accordance with the principles of fair and balanced journalism, Dawn had twice carried the denials issued by the Prime Minister’s Office about the clash during a meeting.
“Journalism has a long and glorious tradition of keeping its promise to its audience even in the face of enormous pressure brought to bear upon it from the corridors of power,” it said, reportedly referring to the pressure tactics being used by the government, such as Almeida’s name being put on ECL and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s assertion two days ago that “stern action” would be taken against those responsible for the story, which his office called “fabricated”.
Amnesty International slammed Pakistan’s “crude” imposition of the travel ban. “It is one thing for the authorities to dispute and contradict a media report. But it is quite another to threaten a journalist under the guise of national security,” said the group’s director of global issues Audrey Gaughran calling on PM Nawaz Sharif to “remember his promise” to improve conditions for journalists.
