Protest against holding back of govt adverts

LAHORE: Lawyers, journalists and politicians on Tuesday protested against a ban on government advertisements to the Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation newspapers.

The protestors came out from the Lahore High Court premises carrying placards and chanting slogans against the government.

They described the holding back of government adverts as a violation of the constitutional right to knowledge of the public.

“The ban is to curb the independence of expression in the country,” said one of the protestors.

The speakers called the ban “illegal, unconstitutional and unjustified”. They said the ban exposed “the shallowness of a government that has started using undemocratic means against the critics of its wrongdoings”.

The said the ban was imposed by “Prime Minister Jamali’s boss” since the prime minister said he had not taken the decision.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Saeed Aasi said journalists would never bow to “dictatorial forces” trying to silence the voice of the truth.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Ahmad Awais also demanded the government restore the 1973 Constitution as it existed before the present military regime. He counted a number of “failures of Gen Pervez Musharraf” in national and international matters. —Staff Report

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