ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), the representative body of the Pakistani journalists, in a “memorandum” called for the immediate release of all the three staff members of the popular TV news channel Al-Jazeera from the Egyptian prison as their continued detention is causing concern among the journalist community around the world.
The PJUJ said that the Egyptian authorities need to understand that in this era of “Information,” news cannot be suppressed nor the newsmen could be detained for very long.
It said that as a representative of thousands of Pakistani journalists, we expressed complete solidarity with the families of our detained colleagues Baher Muhammad, Muhammad Fahmy and Peter Greste.
“We were with you, we are with you and we will continue our protest in Pakistan against the illegal detention,” PFUJ President Mr Afzal Butt assured Al-Jazeera TV.
“If the journalists were not released soon, PFUJ Federal Executive Council, which is meeting in Quetta from February 21 to 23, would consider giving hunger strike call outside the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad,” it said.
“Dictators and dictatorship around the world had detained journalists, banned media, and even killed many of our colleagues, but in the end victory would be ours. No one could defeat media, no one could suppressed freedom of the Press for very long. History is on our side.”
The PFUJ in the memorandum said that the Egyptian government would achieve nothing but condemnation from around the World for what they did to the Al-Jazeera members. It added that if the government had any complaint the best was to approach the channel’s management.
Al-Jazeera, which emerged as the most powerful news channels in the Arab world, and played an important role in covering important developments around the world including Iraq war, Afghanistan, Arab spring, Libya and Syria.
“Don’t treat journalists like terrorists. Don’t punish them like criminals. Only through respect to media, the Egyptian government can put its case before the World. Dictatorship can go in months or it may take several years. Yet, they always be remembered in their own countries and around the world as dictators,” the PFUJ said.
