Senior journalist and columnist, Hamid Mir, has been barred from hosting the famous Capital Talk program on Geo News.
The development follows Mir’s explosive remarks against state institutions at a protest rally organized last week against the attack on journalist Asad Toor.
Nothing new for me.I was banned twice in the past.Lost jobs twice.Survived assassination attempts but cannot stop raising voice for the rights given in the constitution.This time I m ready for any consequences and ready to go at any extent because they are threatening my family. https://t.co/82y1WdrP5S
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) May 31, 2021
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Following his statement, Mir took to Twitter and penned that on one hand, bills for the protection of journalists are being signed into law while special tribunals are being set up to try journalists on the other, which will be authorized to impose fines worth millions of rupees and sentence up to three years imprisonment.
While calling for a parliamentary debate on the matter, Mir said that the decisions of the special tribunals will not be challenged in High Courts and will only be challenged in the Supreme Court.
He also recalled that the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has declared Pakistan as the 5th most dangerous country in the world for journalists, adding that 148 attacks on journalists in Pakistan have been reported in the past 12 months, with the highest number of attacks orchestrated in Islamabad.
He noted that due to these incidents, Pakistan has slipped from 139 to 145 on the World Press Freedom Index in the last years.
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It is worth mentioning here that this is the second time Hamid Mir and Capital Talk have been banned in nearly 19 years.
In December 2007, then-President General Pervez Musharraf banned Capital Talk due to constant criticism of the government. The show resumed in January 2008 but was hosted by Muhammad Malik instead of Hamid Mir. He returned to the show after the 2008 General Elections.
Via IBC Urdu
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